If Doyon wants a new $50 million Denali airport for 737s, the company should pay for it

If Doyon wants a new $50 million airport near Denali to create more business for Doyon’s Denali tourism business, by all means the corporation should build it.

But not a penny of state money or federal money should subsidize the venture, which would be a crippling long-term blow to the tourist economy of Fairbanks. Doyon proposes a new airport be built near Clear, about 45 minutes by bus from the entrance to Denali National Park,

Fairbanks is about two hours by bus from the entrance to Denali.

The Anchorage Daily News has a good report on the idea of getting the state and federal governments to pay for the new airport and build it on state land.

The hope is to eliminate the need for visitors to “burn” part of a day traveling from Fairbanks or Anchorage to Denali. And have 737-900 flights go straight to the airport near Denali from Outside destinations.

“Over the last few years as Doyon has been building our presence in tourism, people in the industry kept using the phrase ‘Move the mountain closer,’” Doyon CEO Aaron Schutt told the Daily News.

“One thing about cruise add-ons is you maybe have three days or five days, and if you’re spending a day on a bus, you just burned one of those days,” he said.

“This airport facility has the potential to greatly expand Doyon Tourism opportunities within the Denali National Park area,” the corporation says.

And greatly reduce the tourism opportunities for Fairbanks by moving the mountain closer to the airport.

With the immense amount invested by the federal government at Fairbanks International Airport and the excess capacity at that airport, building a new airport to shave an hour and 15 minutes off the bus trip to Denali could easily become a symbol of federal overspending in Alaska.

The new Denali airport terminal would “provide visitors with an immersive experience, giving travelers a step-off-the-plane-and-into-the-park atmosphere.”

A brochure from Doyon claims it has a “partnership” with the Dunleavy state Department of Transportation and the Denali borough.

If the Dunleavy administration has indeed agreed to be a partner on this project, Fairbanks legislators and the business community need to get involved and point out the downsides of the Doyon idea and the damage it would do to Fairbanks.

“Under the plan, the runway would be built by the state, using federal funding wherever possible, Schutt said. The proposed terminal, filled with cultural amenities and dining areas, could be built and owned by Doyon, Schutt said. It could cost $18 million.”

The $50 million estimate for the airport and the $18 million estimate for the terminal sound low, given what was spent in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

According to Schutt, the project wouldn’t just help Doyon, but would allow visitors more time for Alaska travel by creating a “bigger pie.”

No it wouldn’t. It would create a powerful incentive to bypass Fairbanks entirely. The Daily News-Miner seems blissfully unaware. The newspaper editorialized in August that the idea of flying 737s from Outside to the proposed new airport is “enticing.”

The state and federal money Doyon wants for an airport would be better spent improving railroad and highway connections to Denali.