Alaskan aviation investment to create jobs

By Rachel Constance on 2-Feb-2012

Eighteen airports in Alaska are to undergo investment projects worth more than $100 million in 2012, according to a new report, with many varied aviation jobs expected to be created as a result.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) released its annual Alaska Airports and Aviation report for 2011 on Tuesday, and stated that 18 airports would benefit from the biggest investments but that smaller-scale projects would be taking place in many more of the state’s 700 airports.

Aviation in Alaska is one of the key industries that supports the state, providing 8 per cent of the gross state product and providing aviation jobs for more than 10 per cent of the state’s population. Steve Hatter, deputy commissioner of aviation with the DOT, said that Alaskans fly in an airplane eight times more than other rural Americans on average.

The DOT has reported to the state legislature that $230 million will be invested by them on airport improvements alone, with some $11.7 of that being provided by the state’s general fund, and the rest coming from federal coffers. Among the most expensive projects scheduled to be completed this year is the Akutan airport, previously funded for about $64 million that should be finished in the autumn of 2012.