Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
King Salmon Airport (PAKN/AKN) is a state-owned regional hub on Alaska's Alaska Peninsula, sited on the north bank of the Naknek River just southeast of the community of King Salmon. Once Naknek Air Force Base, it now combines scheduled airline service, floatplane operations and military training use, and serves as a principal gateway for visitors bound for Katmai National Park and the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary.
King Salmon Airport, known locally as AKN, sits on the Alaska Peninsula on the north bank of the Naknek River, close to the community of King Salmon and roughly 284 miles southwest of Anchorage. Owned by the State of Alaska, it began life as Naknek Air Force Base and today functions as a regional hub, a floatplane base and a military training airfield, supporting some 20 communities across the Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula Boroughs. For the visiting sim pilot it offers an interesting mix of long instrument-approach runways, bush and floatplane traffic, and proximity to Katmai National Park, making it a distinctive stop on any Alaska Peninsula itinerary.
The airfield lies just southeast of King Salmon village on the north bank of the Naknek River, on the Alaska Peninsula in southwest Alaska. It is a towered field, with Anchorage Center providing the surrounding en-route service on 124.8 MHz. There is a dedicated flight service frequency (122.2 MHz) and a ground frequency (121.9 MHz), reflecting its role as a hub for surrounding villages and air taxi operations rather than an isolated strip.
King Salmon has two physical runways. Runway 12/30 is the main strip, 8,878 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting; runway 12 is equipped with an ILS. Runway 18/36 is the shorter crosswind runway, also hard-surfaced and lit, measuring 4,457 feet as runway 18 and 4,211 feet as runway 36. Field elevation is 62 feet.
Air-to-ground communications are available on 140.1 MHz (callsign HARMONY), with ATIS broadcast on 128.8 MHz. The tower operates on 118.3 MHz, with ground control also on 121.9 MHz, which doubles as the CTAF. Anchorage Center provides centre services on 124.8 MHz, and flight service is available on 122.2 MHz. Operations and PTD traffic use 37.22 MHz. Runway 12 is served by an ILS.
The airfield is readily identified from the air by its position on the north bank of the Naknek River, immediately southeast of the King Salmon settlement, with the long 12/30 runway prominent against the surrounding tundra terrain of the Alaska Peninsula.
King Salmon Airport was formerly Naknek Air Force Base, taking its name from its location near the Naknek River, and it retains a military training role to this day alongside its civilian functions. The field has long served as a key transportation link for the Bristol Bay region, and on 30 June 1985 a Douglas C-47B operating an executive flight from Homer suffered a double engine failure on approach due to fuel exhaustion, sustaining substantial damage after a fuel filler cap was found to be missing following the accident.
King Salmon continues to function as a regional hub, floatplane base and military training airfield, supporting year-round scheduled flights by Alaska Airlines, Grant Aviation, Katmai Air and Aleutian Airways, with traffic to numerous outlying villages and to Anchorage. Air activity roughly triples in summer with the fishing and tourism season, and the airport is a principal access point for Katmai National Park and the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. As of 2022 some 39 aircraft were based there. The airport is currently the subject of an ongoing Airport Master Plan Update and an apron and taxiway rehabilitation project intended to address aging pavement and lighting.