New owner of Yute Air adds Learjets to fleet

Lear 35s are in VIP seating configuration, Anchorage-based for immediate charter; 1700-mile range reaches Seattle, Aleutian Chain; Casa 212s service Alpine field for Phillips

Petroleum News Alaska

Yute Air has added two Lear 35 jets to its lineup, based and available for charter at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The planes have VIP seating for a maximum of eight passengers or “maximum comfort” for six passengers with light gear, said Skip Nelson, Yute vice president and chief operating officer.

The Lear 35s have a 1,700-nautical mile range compared with the 1,100 miles for other corporate jets, thus offering non-stop links to Seattle or distant points in Alaska such as Adak on the Aleutian Chain, he said. Adak is actually closer than 1,100 miles to Anchorage, but the flight is over water and the alternate airport if weather is bad in Adak is Cold Bay, 600 miles away, Nelson said. The extended flying range lends an extra margin of safety.

Learjets fly faster and higher than most commercial airliners. At 40,000 feet the thin atmosphere buffets the plane very little.

Nelson is concerned that corporate travel planners might consider Lear jets to be an extravagance. In fact, he said, the Lear is a compact, efficient flying machine, much easier to fly than many other jets.

“The Lear is a pure flying machine,” he said, adding that although passengers must stoop a bit to get to their seats, the smaller profile of the fuselage pays off in lower drag and higher efficiency.

Because of its superior speed the Lear often compares favorably in cost to turboprops, particularly on long trips and when time is of the essence. The Lear cruises at more than 500 miles per hour, while most turboprops fly at less than 300 mph.

The cost of a refueling stop includes takeoff and landing fuel use, downtime for equipment, crew, passengers and freight, landing fees, customs, taxes and other expenses.

Sometimes the Lear carries not executives but cargo, often delivering vital parts to keep critical machines and staff working.

“It’s less expensive to fly a drill bit in than to have a rig idle,” Nelson said.

Rounding out Yute’s fleet

The Casa 212 cruises at 200 mph, can operate out of strips as short as 2,000 feet and can touch down on beaches and dirt roads.

“It’s the sweetheart of the special ops community,” Nelson said.

Yute keeps a pair of its four Casa 212s flying constantly to service the Alpine field for Phillips.

Yute’s parent company, Flight International Group, acquired a seven-passenger twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftan and 10 single-engine Cessna planes when it bought the assets of Yute Air out of Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2000. The Cessna 206s and 207s are used for mail routes in Bush Alaska.

Flight International also acquired hangars in Aniak, Kotzebue and Dillingham, and has since erected the first new hangar at Deadhorse airport in 15 years, Nelson said.

The purchase of Yute Air has worked out well for Flight International, Nelson said.

“We’ve taken Yute from bankrupt to a $6 million company in one year,” he said.

Nelson said FIG bought Yute because of its facilities and its good reputation in Bush Alaska.

FIG, with 21 Learjets, is new to the oil patch and to the Alaska Bush, but it has more than 20 years of government and civilian flying experience, with 25 percent of the company’s flights rated as classified.

FIG’s pilots are typically experienced, with military backgrounds and an average age closer to 40 than 20, Nelson said. Bush flying doesn’t pay as much as the airlines for senior pilots, but pilots find the flying at Yute quite rewarding.

“When you land at the villages everyone comes out to meet the plane,” Nelson said. “It’s about as close as you can get to the old dogsled.”