On Sunday, August 13, an airplane landed successfully at Fairbanks International Airport after a 3,400-mile flight from Long Beach, California via Canada.
While not unusual, the otherwise mundane event typifies the upward transition of Alaska’s transformation from what some perceive as a distant, glacial wilderness into a vast dynamic hub, humming with innovative technologies and ideas.
What made that flight unique is the fact that the aircraft was powered by a hybrid-electric motor.
The historic flight of the retrofitted Cessna 337 Skymaster represented a major milestone in aviation history – it was the furthest north any hybrid-electric aircraft has ever flown, the first-ever international flight by such an aircraft, and the first to utilize the deployment of mobile electric aircraft chargers.
“Tech deployments like this are key to advancing the energy transition, with immediate and long-term benefits for the communities they serve,” said Isaac Vanderburg, Launch Alaska president and CEO.
Aviation, he says, “plays a huge role in Alaska’s economy and way of life, and we’re so proud to help support companies like Ampaire as they develop solutions to decarbonize and advance one of our most vital modes of transportation.”
The unique airplane was developed by Long Beach, California-based Ampaire, which serves as part of Launch Alaska’s economic development portfolio and graduate of its Tech Deployment Track.
The state, says Dr. Erin Whitney, director of the Arctic Energy Office at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), “is well-known for its innovation and discovery, so it’s fitting that this groundbreaking hybrid-electric flight made history in Alaska.”
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the fourth-busiest cargo airport in the world with several projects underway to maintain its position as a key player in the global aviation sector.
The airport serves as the funnel for air cargo moving between Asia and North America with 18 international cargo airlines including NCA, Polar Air Cargo, UPA, EVA Air, Air China, and Singapore Air Cargo, and almost a dozen regional air carriers logging more than 8,000 cargo flights per month at the airport. Both UPS and FedEx fly time-critical non-stops from their hubs in Louisville and Memphis to Tokyo via Anchorage.
Atlas Air is currently in discussions with the state of Alaska to build a large, dedicated operations base that would improve fluidity and ensure the airport can accommodate continued growth as the airline increasingly focuses on booming e-commerce trade from Asia to the U.S.
The proposed deal would see Atlas Air lease a large piece of mostly undeveloped land on the west side of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport for 55 years. The carrier is the largest all-cargo operator at the airport with 7,000 departures per year, or about 25 each day.
According to an Atlas Air representative, the new Atlas facility would include a hardstand for up to 13 widebody aircraft, as well as a warehouse, maintenance hangar, flight crew operations base, storage for ground support equipment, and an administrative office, said Teri Lindseth, deputy airport director for planning and development, in an email exchange. The project is slated for completion in 2027.
NorthLink Aviation has been given the green light to build a $200 million air cargo facility at the airport on a 120-acre plot of land at Ted Stevens. When completed the facility will “accelerate the delivery of e-commerce packages to customers in Alaska and the Lower 48 and provide full customs clearance and first port of entry at ANC, allowing overseas cargo to arrive at its destination faster.”
Another industry with huge growth potential in which Alaska is displaying its knack for “innovation and discovery” involves deriving biopharmaceuticals, food, animal feed, soil amendments, cosmetics, and even fuel and bioplastics from the ocean.
Last year, for example, the National Oceanographic & Space Administration reported the discovery of a gas seep from the ocean floor thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean in the Aleutian Trench that skirts the Alaskan island chain. According to one source, such seeps “provide habitat for organisms like tubeworms and are potential sources of both alternative energy and biopharmaceuticals.”
And earlier this year, Macro Oceans, a California-based biotech startup, recently unveiled a low-carbon cosmetic bioactive compound for skin and hair care products derived from seaweed grown at farms located in the cold waters off the Alaskan coast.
At the same time, a public and private sector consortium led by the University of Alaska launched a program to study methods to cultivate and harvest sugar kelp for conversion into biofuels and bioenergy. The proposed technology would enable commercial biomass farming to be deployed in the open ocean, thereby reducing the demand for artificial fertilizer, land, and freshwater resources.
“There’s a lot of cutting-edge research here because the state continues to rely heavily on a healthy, generations-old partnership with the ocean” says Margo Fliss, associate director of the University of Alaska’s Center for Economic Development in Anchorage.
Another California-based company looking northward to expand its technological horizons is Greensparc, which designs and develops modular, scalable micro-data centers specifically designed from the ground up for sustainability, rapid deployment, and resilience in tough geographic and climate conditions.
The company recently completed construction of the first-of-its-kind data center in the City of Cordova, which is located near the mouth of the Copper River on the east side of Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
Remote and rural communities such as Cordova rely on data centers hundreds of miles away, with service easily disrupted by adverse weather conditions, fiber damage, and environmental factors. Without data centers that are much more local, communities like Cordova, Alaska, sit on the other side of a rapidly accelerating digital divide.
The data center, built in just 30 days at the Humpback Creek Hydroelectric Project in Cordova, was developed in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and “is a step toward bringing reliable data infrastructure to underserved and unserved edge communities,” says Greensparc founder and CEO, Sam Enoka, an Alaska native and graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
“Cordova is a relatively small community and, like many others in Alaska, has traditionally relied on the fish processing and seafood industry to bolster their local and regional economies,” says Margot Fliss. “That industry is very seasonal and that usually covers eight or nine months of the year. In the off-season, there’s an incredible amount of energy that’s not being consumed that could be put to good use.”
The new Greensparc data center, she says, “can use that excess energy to help grow and develop the economies of rural Alaskan communities like Cordova.”
Another industry sector seeing considerable growth is telecommunications with skilled workers in great demand as the state continues to expand the reach of its digital networks.
The challenge is daunting, but the opportunities for development are as vast as Alaska itself – the state encompasses 663,267 square miles, or more than Texas, California, and Montana combined.
“Several telecom megaprojects are underway as part of an unprecedented effort to connect all Alaskans,” says Christine O’Connor, executive director of the Alaska Telecom Association.
Currently, nearly $2 billion in federal broadband funding is earmarked to connect rural Alaska to the internet. Internet broadband provider MTA was awarded a federal grant to build more than 50 miles of fiber for Tyonek and Beluga, across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, while Alaska Communications’ partners have received more than $100 million so far to build reliable, high-speed fiber broadband in fifteen communities along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.
“There is a lot of work to do to close the digital divide, and we want to make sure we’re developing the next generation of telecom professionals,” says Michael Burke, CEO of the MTA co-op.
Telecommunications workers are, and will continue to be, in great demand as Alaska builds out its digital networks and helps nurture and mentor that “next generation” of telecom professionals is the Alaska Joint Electrical Apprenticeship and Training Trust (AJEATT) program.
Organized with support from NECA/IBEW, apprentices in the unique program receive free schooling and are paid a competitive salary throughout their classroom and on-the-job training. On average, a newly graduated telecom worker who successfully completes the program can earn about $90,000 annually plus healthcare, paid time off, and a pension.
“Several telecom megaprojects are underway as part of an unprecedented effort to connect all Alaskans,” says Christine O’Connor, executive director of the Alaska Telecom Association, adding that nearly $2 billion in federal broadband funding is earmarked to connect rural Alaska to the internet.
“When it comes to connectivity, Alaska is significantly underserved. There is a lot of work to do to close the digital divide,” says Michael Burke, CEO of MTA, which partnered with internet service provider Alaska Telecom to energize the AJEATT.
“We want to make sure we’re developing the next generation of telecom professionals.”
Bio: Michael D. White is a published author with four non-fiction books and well more than 1,700 by-lined articles on international transportation and trade to his credit.
During his 35 year career as a journalist, White has served in positions from contributor and reporter to managing editor for a number of publications including Global Trade Magazine, the Los Angeles Daily Commercial News, Pacific Shipper, the Los Angeles Business Journal, International Business Magazine, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Los Angeles Daily News, Pacific Traffic Magazine, and World Trade Magazine.
He has also served as editor of the CalTrade Report and Pacific Coast Trade websites, North America Public and Media Relations Manager for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and as a consultant to Pace University’s World Trade Institute and the Austrian Trade Commission.
A veteran of the United States Coast Guard, White has traveled in both Japan and China, and earned a degree in journalism from California State University and a Certificate in International Business from the Japanese Ministry of Trade & Industry’s International Institute for Studies & Training in Tokyo.
