Description: Identify system-level needs to ensure rural airports and floatplane docks continue to provide safe, reliable, and affordable year-round access to essential services, goods, and emergency response for Alaska’s roadless communities.

Primary Focus Areas: 

• Rural and remote aviation infrastructure, including rural airfields, gravel runways, and seaplane bases, with modernization needs appropriate to local contexts.
• Essential services and logistics, including Essential Air Service, bypass mail, fuel, freight, and mail delivery, and the aviation system’s role in crisis response.
• Safety, reliability, and system resilience, including weather reporting systems, maintenance, and operational performance under challenging conditions.
• Integrated planning, funding, and community involvement, strengthening intermodal connections with marine and surface access, incorporating local knowledge, and supporting sustainable funding approaches such as leasing.