About Us or why call an Alaska owned and operated air carrier DesertAir?

DesertAir originally started up its Part 135 charter operation in the 1990s in the high mountain desert of Utah flying auto parts across the country and Canada.  A resident of Alaska since 1975, owner operator Dennis Gladwin initially flew fish seasonally in Alaska with the workhorse of the Alaska interior, the DC-3 airplane.

We began fulltime year round charter cargo service to rural Alaska across its “ice deserts” in 2001, adding direct points of service each year to remote Alaska destinations.  DesertAir Alaska now serves over 200 locations with direct nonstop all cargo service from the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

IceAir?  Too obvious.  NorthAir?  Way overused.  AlaskaAir?  Too many lawyers involved.  TransportAir? Ho-hum.  So DesertAir was reborn DesertAir Alaska, there are sand dunes at Kobuk you know.

About Our Airplanes

A Convair 240 airplane was recently added to our DC-3 fleet.  The CV-240 hauls 7500 lbs to airstrips 3800’ or longer.  The Convair has more than 2100 cubic ft. freight capacity which is great for transporting high volume and extra bulky items such as doors, windows and insulation.

The DC-3 also has a large haul capacity of 6500 lbs and can get in and out of runways as short as 2800 ft.  The DC-3’s large tundra tires can accommodate gravel and dirt strips prevalent in remote sites.  But the best thing about all of our planes is their big awesome cargo doors allowing all your cargo to actually fit in the airplane.

About Our Location 
 
We recently relocated our offices and maintenance facility to: 4001 Old International Airport Road, Unit 9.  Stop by and check out the new digs when you’re in the area, the coffee’s always fresh.