Grant Aviation is a regional airline that serves the town of Kenai, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Bristol Bay, and the Aleutian Chain in Alaska, United States. The airline was formed in 1971 as Delta Air Services based in Emmonak. The current owners are Bruce McGlasson and Mark "Woody" Richardson, who purchased the airline in 2004. The company slogan is "Fly Easy, Fly Grant."

Grant Aviation
IATA ICAO Call sign
GV GUN HOOT
Founded1971
AOC #ENHA618D[1]
Frequent-flyer programQuyana Rewards
Fleet size32
HeadquartersAnchorage, Alaska
Key people
  • Rob Kelley (CEO)
  • Westward Partners (Owner)
Websitehttp://www.flygrant.com

History

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Grant Aviation was established in 1971 as Delta Air Services in Emmonak. The name was changed to Grant Aviation in 1993. Throughout the company's early years, before organizations like LifeMed Alaska, Grant provided medevac services for many of the villages of the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. Villages would call Grant for medevac services and Grant would then transport patients to receive emergency medical care.[citation needed]

In October 1994, the village of Emmonak gave a Native owl mask to Grant Aviation in appreciation for numerous life-saving efforts in the villages of the Yukon River Delta. Later this mask became the company logo.[citation needed]

Operations

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Grant Aviation serves over 100 communities in Alaska throughout the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the Aleutians and Bristol Bay.with bases in Anchorage, Bethel, Cold Bay, Dillingham, Emmonak, Kenai, King Salmon and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor.[2] IIt provides air ambulance services in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region through a contract with LifeMed Alaska.[citation needed]

Fleet

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A Grant Aviation Cessna 208 at Bethel Airport

Grant Aviation flies a fleet of small propeller-driven airplanes, including:[3]

Grant Aviation fleet
Aircraft Number Passengers
Beech BE-200 2 9
Cessna 207 12 6
Cessna 208 25 9
Piper PA-31 Navajo 4 9
GippsAero GA8 Airvan 7 7
Total 50

On 7 July 2020, Grant Aviation acquired 10 Cessna 208 Caravans, and five Cessna 207 planes at Ravn Alaska's bankruptcy auction.[4]

Community awareness

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Grant Aviation, along with Bering Air, Frontier Flying Service, Northern Air Cargo, PenAir, and Ryan Air, participates in the Flying Can service, which allows rural Alaskan communities to recycle aluminum cans and now number 1 PET bottles in cooperation with Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling.[5] Grant provides air ambulance services in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region through a contract with LifeMed Alaska. Grant Aviation also has a program to move shelter animals from the Kenai to Anchorage, where they have a better chance of getting adopted.[citation needed]

Quyana Rewards

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Grant Aviation offers a frequent-flyer program called Quyana Rewards. Members get credit for every paid segment on Grant Aviation. Members can redeem a free one-way ticket for every five segments and a round trip for ten segments, anywhere they fly. Rewards never expire.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Federal Aviation Administration - Airline Certificate Information - Detail View". av-info.faa.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  2. ^ "Grant Aviation - Schedule". Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Grant Aviation AOC". Federal Aviation Administration. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  4. ^ "Ravn sells off dozens of small planes to Alaska companies". www.alaskapublic.org. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  5. ^ Tuttle, Logan (16 June 2010). "Rural recycling finds a PET project". The Arctic Sounder. Alaska Newspapers, Inc. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  6. ^ "Quyana Rewards". Grant Aviation. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
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