BELLAIR: United States (1978-1996). Sitka-based Bellair is established in 1978 by Kenneth Bellows to provide passenger and cargo air taxi flights to the southeast Alaskan destinations of Angoon and Kake. A large number of charter operations into the bush are also initiated. The fleet includes 1 each de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and Cessna 185.
In 1982, the company seeks CAB authority to provide scheduled C-185 services connecting its base with Port Alexander, Little Port Walter, and Baranof. Permission is received in 1983 and flights commence in March 1984. Operations continue apace, almost without incident, during the remainder of the decade; Sitka, Angoon, Kake, and 10 other small previously nonscheduled communities join the scheduled route network.
While en route from Sitka to Rowan Bay on August 18, 1988, a DHC-2 encounters clouds while passing through a valley and crashes, killing its pilot.
In 1990, the small regional employs 10 workers and operates a fleet of 2 Beavers and 1 Cessna 185. A total of 5,457 passengers are flown on the year.
Enplanements decline to 5,012 in 1991 and a total of 555,557 pounds of mail are flown. President Bellows’ fleet in 1993 is down to 1 Beaver and 1 Cessna 185. Enplanements total 4,810.
Operations continue apace in 1994, but passenger boardings slip 1% to 4,762. A total of 15,000 FTKs are also flown.
Ten workers employed in 1995 and President Bellows’s fleet includes 1 Beaver, 2 Cherokee Sixes, and 1 Cessna 172, but traffic falls even further. Enplanements drop 37% to 3,007.
By the spring of 1996, the company has become economically unviable. As a result, the facilities, routes, and aircraft are sold to Taquan Air Services in June.
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