November 6, 2025 Seward Folly Staff

Kenai Aviation has ceased all operations and is currently out of business due to financial insolvency.

The Kenai-based airline, which had been serving Seward this past summer and Alaska since 1961, announced the immediate shutdown on November 3, 2025, after being unable to overcome debt accrued during the pandemic.

As reported in the Folly on April 24, Kenai Aviation service between Seward and Anchorage began on May 1. Kenai Aviation was selected for a two-year term to provide six trips per week from May 1 to September 30. The contract included three weekly round-trip flights from October 1 through April 30. 

The airline scheduled flights connecting multiple communities in Southcentral Alaska, as well as Unalakleet in Western Alaska and Fairbanks in the Interior. A connection between Kenai and Anchorage was a popular one.

In a heartfelt letter on the business website, Joel Caldwell states: 

I refuse to give up. I don’t know how. I can’t make promises. But I believe that Flight 114 will board again. We need capital, we need partners, we need a lifeline. That investor is out there, we just need to find them. One promise that you can hold me to, is that, if at all possible, I will find that lifeline. 

– Joel Caldwell