New Grant Aviation planes to double service’s flight capacity

The first of two Cessna 208B EX Grand Caravans will start transporting passengers on Monday

Two additional planes will double Grant Aviation’s daily capacity between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage, the airline announced Friday.

The first of two Cessna 208B EX Grand Caravans started transporting passengers Monday. The second is expected “soon after,” according to a release from Grant.

Those planes “will be familiar,” they write, as the Caravan line is “a mainstay in Grant’s fleet for its versatility and strong safety record.”

The expanded service, they say, will increase both the number of passengers they can serve and create greater flexibility “to meet seasonal demand swings.”

Bringing on the extra planes has been in the works since Ravn Alaska in October pulled out of the Kenai Municipal Airport.

“As soon as we learned the overall service level on the route between Kenai and Anchorage were changing, we began searching for solutions because we knew there would be an unmet need,” says Dan Knesek, Grant’s vice president of commercial operations, in the release. “So many folks in the oil and gas industry, other professionals, visitors and those wanting to avoid the Seward Highway rely on the Kenai-Anchorage service — we’re just happy to be on a position to help fill that need.”

For more information, visit flygrant.com.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

Grant Aviation’s new Cessna 208B EX Grand Caravan idles on the runway moments after arriving at the Kenai Municipal Airport in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, March 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)