The veteran airline will not resume its summer promotional flights between Fairbanks and Frankfurt, Germany, in 2024, according to Explore Fairbanks CEO Scott McCrea.
McCrea provided the North Pole City Council with a brief update Monday, including information on which airlines will operate out of Fairbanks International Airport during the summer tourist season.
Concord Airlines, which has operated summer flights for 21 years, “didn’t perform as well as we did last year,” McCrea said, adding that tourists from Germany continue to visit Fairbanks and the interior despite the lack of flights.
“We are confident we can restore air service,” McCrea said.
McCrea said Concord will continue to provide service between Anchorage and Germany, with tourists flying into Anchorage and renting a car or camper to travel the state’s roads.
Alaska Airlines will resume six daily flights between Fairbanks and Seattle, while Delta Airlines will resume two flights. United Airlines will begin daily service between Fairbanks and Chicago, as well as daily service to Denver. Delta Airlines will resume daily service from Fairbanks to Minneapolis.
“The midnight sun season is in full swing and we’re starting to see a slight increase in summer tourism,” McCrea said.
He noted that cruise ship passengers depart from ports such as Seward and Whittier to begin land tours of Alaska.
“If you’re taking a land tour first, you’ll fly into Fairbanks and begin your journey from there,” McCrea said.
Tourists arriving by cruise ship pass through the interior before departing by flight from FAI, and these tourists tend to stay a few extra days inland to see more than what is included in their cruise package.
McCrea said he couldn’t predict how many tourists Fairbanks could expect.
“Crystal balls predicting summer tourism numbers are murky at best,” McCrea said, “but if the trends we’ve seen over the past few summers continue this year, August will be the peak month, especially at the end of the aurora season.”
Mr McClair outlined the 2023/2024 winter tourist season.
“I would say this winter has been a record season by the standards we measure it by,” McCrea said. “We’re now at the point where our winter visitation numbers are surpassing our summer visitation numbers.”
Explore Fairbanks has been promoting Fairbanks as a year-round destination for the past 20 years, and McCrea believes the Northern Lights are the driving force behind the increase in winter tourism.
“Demand for the aurora is at an all-time high because we are currently at the peak of our 11-year solar cycle, which is when aurora activity is at its most intense,” McCrea said. “We plan to see the aurora here in 2024 and 2025, but we are reassuring tourism companies and tour operators currently trying to attract tourists that the solar cycle will not affect Fairbanks.”
Explore Fairbanks tracks FAI arrivals and departures daily, and in March alone, more than 97,000 people arrived and departed, a 25% increase over the same month in 2023 and a 10% increase over 2019.
“When we look back to 2023, these numbers will be higher than they were in May and September,” McCrea said.
He added that the Alaska Railroad reported its highest winter service ever on its Aurora passenger trains between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The railroad reported that 4,700 people rode the trip between Fairbanks and Anchorage, an increase of about 37% compared to March 2023.
“March has been warmer than any other winter since 2012,” McCrea said.
To boost visitor numbers, Explore Fairbanks will try to promote tourism in months other than the peak winter tourism months of February and March, McClair said.
