Ravn Alaska
Northern Pacific Airways, Inc., d.b.a. Ravn Alaska, is an Alaskan airline that specializes in serving the small communities in the US state of Alaska. The airline is headquartered in Anchorage, which is also home to its primary hub, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Ravn Alaska currently serves 12 communities in Alaska. Northern Pacific operates all of its flights using the Ravn Alaska brand. The company pronounces its name Ravn like the bird, Raven. Ravn has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, allowing passengers to book interlining flights and allowing passengers on most Ravn flights to earn miles in Alaska's Mileage Plan frequent-flyer program. History Northern Pacific traces its roots to June 20, 1948, and the founding of Economy Helicopters. The company was founded by Carl Brady; he flew the first commercial helicopter to Alaska to work on a mapping contract for the U.S. government. In the years that followed, Economy Helicopters renamed itself Era Helicopters (now a part of Bristow Group). In 1967, Houston based Rowan Companies, purchased the company from the founder. Most of its business was supporting offshore oil drilling. Era's helicopters also supported the efforts to build the Alyeska Pipeline. During construction of the pipeline, the company started its fixed-wing division, based on DeHaviland Twin Otter and Convair 580 aircraft. After the construction of the pipeline, Era saw an opportunity to expand to scheduled passenger service, which they introduced in May 1983. The Convair planes were used for service to Valdez, Kenai, Kodiak, Cordova, and Homer. The Twin Otter fleet was based out of Bethel and operated service to many of the small communities surrounding it. In 1988, Era Helicopters formally changed its name to Era Aviation, and changed structure and creating a division, still known as Era Helicopters, now a part of Bristow Group, alongside Era Aviation. The company endured a very turbulent transition between December 2004 and December 2006, which saw two changes in ownership, the spinoff of the Era Helicopters division (on July 1, 2004), and the company entering (in very late 2005) and emerging from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. In early 2009, HoTH Inc., the holding company that owned Hageland Aviation Services and Frontier Flying Service, purchased Era Aviation. However, Era Helicopters was not part of the acquisition (having left common ownership on July 1, 2004, when both were under SEACOR ownership). In October 2009, HoTH Inc. also acquired Arctic Circle Air Service, a local cargo airline. The combined air group rebranded itself as Era Alaska, taking advantage of Era's recognizable name. In January 2014, the companies were renamed once again in what the company says was an effort to decrease confusion and distinguish it from other companies that are named Era, including the former division and original operation of predecessor Era Aviation, then known as Era Helicopters/Era Group, which at this time was a publicly trading independent company. The combined air group Era Alaska was renamed Ravn Alaska, Era Airlines was renamed Corvus Airlines, and while Hageland Aviation Services and Frontier Flying Service would