Pelican finally takes flight after going 34 days without a plane or ferry, as Juneau’s airport catches up on storm disruptions
- Laurie Craig
- Jan 1
- 4 min read
Alaska Seaplanes makes trips between Juneau and small coastal community on New Year’s Day; man stuck at airport for three days looks forward to returning to NY home
By Laurie Craig
Juneau Independent
Pelican City Clerk Lattieca Stewart was quite content passing the time alone at Juneau International Airport on New Year’s Day.
She was one of four passengers who had just flown out of the small roadless Southeast Alaska fishing community on the first transportation since Nov. 28. Record snowstorms and cold spells have hampered floatplanes, and weather also thwarted the lone scheduled Alaska Marine Highway System ferry trip.
Stewart was waiting patiently to be picked up by her son, who lives out the road in Juneau, an area that has had numerous power outages in recent days due to heavy snow and prior subzero temperatures. He was delayed helping his neighbors dig out of the record snowfall on Thursday, the first time in several days when the sky was not obscured with blizzard conditions.
She said she told him, “I’m in no rush. I’m warm, I have a book to read, I can sit and wait for you."
Stewart arrived on the first Alaska Seaplanes flight from Pelican in more than a month. A second trip to Pelican was scheduled by the commuter airline the same day. The pilot loaded the plane with boxes then took off at about 1:30 p.m. for the coastal community.
Like many rural Alaskans, trips to hub communities like Juneau mean concentrating tasks so one trip serves many purposes. Stewart said she had scheduled some medical appointments for early December, but rescheduled them for January due to the uncertainty of flights or ferries.
One of the key things residents of Pelican have missed during the difficult weather is mail delivery. The amphibious Alaska Seaplanes aircraft is capable of landing in the water at Pelican (which has no airport) and on the runway in Juneau (where the floatplane pond is often frozen during winter).
Another airport passenger, also patiently waiting, had a more challenging story.
New Yorker Clifford White has been stranded at the airport for three days after his scheduled Tuesday jet was cancelled by weather. He and a few other passengers rested in one of the comfortable airport lounge areas while the runway outside was shut down for snow management. Rescheduling a flight out of Juneau during the Christmas holiday meant most airline seats were already booked. New Year’s Day was the first opening.
“I will board at 8:30 tonight and get home to Rochester by 6:30 p.m. tomorrow,” he said. With most airport businesses closed, White ordered take-out pizza for delivery to the airport during his three-day delay.
White’s time in Alaska has covered the state. In April, he arrived in Dutch Harbor to manage the kitchen on the Northern Victor, a fish processing ship where “four of us had to cook for 300-400 people every day, seven days a week,” he added.
When that business wrapped up its season in August, White flew to the busy tourist area outside Denali National Park where he worked at a pizza restaurant for three months. Tourism being seasonal, too, he traveled to Juneau to work construction until that business also slowed, due to cold weather. His employer told him, “You might as well just go home,” so he booked a flight and arrived at the airport Tuesday, “and I’ve been here ever since.”
The New York man is philosophical about his time in Alaska. Had Juneau’s weather been more cooperative, White could have celebrated New Year’s Eve at home with his family. He didn’t mind being gone, he said. He had an important reason to spend much of the year earning money in Alaska.
“I’ve been doing all this work to take care of my daughter’s college. She graduates in May, so I guess I don’t have to come back anymore. I think I’m going to find some work at home.” White’s Alaska employment provided extra income, particularly due to overtime earnings.
White’s 20-year-old daughter attends college in Albany, New York.
“She is studying criminal justice. She wants to do forensics. She wants to be a state trooper,” he added with obvious pride. His wife is a pre-K to first-grade teacher in Rochester, while his son has just started his own car detailing business after working for large corporations. “He has that entrepreneur spirit,” White said.
Looking at his bags on an airport luggage cart, White quietly smiled, saying, “I’ve been pushing this thing around since Tuesday, but I made it. I have eight more hours (to wait) and it’ll be over,” when he boards his jet in Juneau. His route takes him to Anchorage, then Seattle, Chicago and finally to home in Rochester by Friday night.
• Contact Laurie Craig at lauriec@juneauindependent.com.
