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Alaska Airlines connects many towns and settlements in the State of Alaska with the continental US – some of which are direct flights from Anchorage to Seattle. Others, however, are smaller puddle-jumping routes between Anchorage and Seattle stopping at small coastal and inland towns that are only accessible by plane and boat. This route is called the “Milk Run” and is essential for smaller Alaskan towns who rely on its daily service to provide essential goods.
For other maps on airline routes, see United Airlines’ Island Hopper and DCA Perimeter Restrictions!
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts about this map
There are 3 major routes on the Milk Run
In order to serve as many towns as possible, Alaska Airlines operates 3 major routes up and down Southeast Alaska (all routes are daily):
- Flight 61 / Flight 66
- Flight 61: Seattle (departing at 7:50am) – Juneau – Yakutat – Cordova – Anchorage (arriving about 2pm)
- Flight 66: Anchorage (departing at 3:30p) – Cordova – Yakutat – Juneau – Anchorage (arriving about 11pm)
- Flight 64 / Flight 65
- Flight 64: Anchorage (departing at 11:40am) – Juneau – Petersburg – Wrangell – Ketchikan – Seattle (arriving about 8:30pm)
- Flight 65: Seattle (departing at 7:55am) – Ketchikan – Wrangell – Petersburg – Juneau – Anchorage (arriving about 3pm)
- **The shortest flight on the entire Milk Run is from Wrangell to Petersburg at just 32 miles**
- Flight 62 / Flight 67
- Flight 62: Fairbanks (departing at 6am) – Anchorage – Juneau – Sitka – Ketchikan – Seattle (arriving about 4pm) (note: Fairbanks has dropped off as an official stop on the “Milk Route” but has 8 flights per day leaving Fairbanks for Anchorage, including a 6am departure on Flight 47 and a 1pm departure on Flight 68, both of which allow connecting times for Flight 62 and Flight 66 leaving Anchorage, respectively)
- Flight 67: Seattle (departing at 3pm) – Ketchikan – Sitka – Juneau – Anchorage (arriving about 9:30pm)
The Milk Run previously used an aircraft specifically designed for the route
5 Boeing 737-400 combi aircraft previously flew on these routes every day. The distinctive feature of this aircraft is the front half of the fuselage is dedicated for cargo, while the back half of the plane is reserved for approximately 72 passengers. This means there was no direct access from the passenger part of the aircraft to the cockpit. The additional cargo space allowed Alaska Airlines aircraft to carry goods (sometimes literally milk) to the remote Alaskan towns it serves.
The airlines retired the 5 737-400 combi aircraft in 2017 and made way for a more fuel-efficient 737-700 freighter aircraft specifically for cargo. Passengers, in turn, will travel on separate 737 aircraft that are not specific to the Milk Run. This will allow more flexible cargo shipment schedules to be formed without also needing to plan around passenger schedules.
An airplane on the Milk Run once hit a bear on the runway
Only in a remote Alaskan airport would a story like this make sense! In November 2020, a 737 passenger aircraft at Yakutat (a stop on Flight 61 & Flight 66) reportedly hit two bears crossing the runway. Apparently the runway had been purposefully cleared in advance of the landing, but the 2 bears crossed at the very last minute as the flight was landing at about 60 mph. Unfortunately, one of the two bears died 🙁
Additional links and sources
- Alaska Airlines news article about the Milk Run (link, published in 2015)
- Alaska Airlines news article about the retirement on the 737-400 combi aircraft (link, published in 2017)
- Blog post about the bear strike at Yakutat Airport (link, published in 2020)
Have you ever flown on Alaska Airlines’ Milk Run before?
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
