US’s Northern Pacific Airways secures first six B757-200s

FLOAT Alaska LLC has secured its first six B757-200s for its forthcoming long-haul division Northern Pacific Airways and hopes to take delivery of the first of these aircraft in December 2021.

The holding company plans to buy all six aircraft from AerSale (United States of America), Chief Executive Robert McKinney explained to Simple Flying. The first of them will be N206UW (msn 27808), a 26.5-year-old aircraft retired by its last operator, American Airlines, in January 2020 and currently in storage at Roswell airport. The aircraft will undergo a C-Check with Certified Aviation Services LLC at San Bernardino airport and will deliver to Anchorage Ted Stevens by the end of the year, re-registered as N627NP. The other five already secured aircraft will also be ex-American Airlines units. According to the ch-aviation fleets ownership module, AerSale currently owns sixteen B757-200s, of which 14 are ex-American Airlines.

McKinney said the holding is in talks with lessors and traders to secure more aircraft to reach its initial fleet size goal of twelve B757s in time for its launch, planned for a still undefined date in 2022.

He added that the choice of B757s was primarily driven by the availability of the type on the second-hand market. In the long-term, Northern Pacific Airways will seek another type for its fleet.

Northern Pacific Airways is set to operate as a division of Ravn Alaska (7H, Anchorage Ted Stevens), a wholly-owned subsidiary of FLOAT Alaska which plies regional flights in the northernmost state of the US. The start-up intends to develop Anchorage as a connecting hub for services between the mainland US and Asia akin to Reykjavik Keflavik in Iceland for transatlantic traffic.