MarkAir
MarkAir was an Alaska jet carrier operating from 1984 to 1995 that started after World War II as Interior Airways. Interior Airways grew from founder Jim Magoffin's bush pilot activities to pioneering flying freight to Alaska's North Slope, first in the 1950s for the military and then later, as an intrastate airline, playing a key role in supporting oil exploration in the 1960s, including flying Lockheed L-100 Hercules aircraft into gravel strips laid down on tundra.
In the 1970s, after the airline was renamed AIA, leadership shifted to Neil Bergt, who ultimately ended up with complete ownership. Bergt oversaw AIA's support of the construction of the Alaska pipeline and engineered the abortive consolidation of AIA plus Wien Air Alaska with Western Airlines soon after US airline deregulation in the early 1980s. In 1984, Bergt changed AIA's identity again to MarkAir to pursue passenger service. MarkAir dominated much of the intra-Alaska market and demonstrated consistently high profitability, despite which the mercurial Bergt at one time said he hated the airline. In 1991, MarkAir shifted from cooperating to competing with Alaska Airlines, leading to two bankruptcies. By its 1995 demise, MarkAir service had shifted entirely to the Lower 48 in a failed attempt to be a low-cost carrier.
History: Interior Airways
Startup
Jim Magoffin was from a family of outdoorsmen; his father participated in the Klondike Gold Rush. Magoffin was a lieutenant colonel in the pilot training command of the Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he supplemented his pay working as a mining engineer in Fairbanks by purchasing a single-engined Taylorcraft and marketing bush pilot services from 1947 as Interior Airways. Magoffin's wife Dot was a key figure at Interior, a multiengine-qualified pilot fully comfortable in the back country.DEW Line and BMEWS
Interior slowly added larger light aircraft and employees until it got a contract supporting construction of the DEW Line prototype in 1953 on the North Slope. Flying conditions were some of the most challenging in the world. With almost all supplies flown in, Interior upgraded to handle volume, first to Beech 18s and then, after the prototype was successful, DC-3s and C-46s to support DEW Line build out, including a C-46, N1663M, bought from future billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. After DEW Line construction ended in 1957, Interior supported Ballistic Missile Early Warning System construction at Clear Air Force Station in the late 1950s. But in 1961, policy changes required the US military contract only with airlines certificated by the Civil Aeronautics Board, the now-defunct Federal agency that then tightly regulated almost all US air transportation. Without a CAB certificate, Interior had to shrink in the early 1960s, falling back on civilian business.Intrastate airline
Certification remained a problem. Operating DC-3s and C-46s required certification, but given the DEW Line's national importance, Interior received a waiver to fly these aircraft. Thereafter, Interior was in a battle with the CAB over this issue. Conflict ended when Alaska became a state in 1959 and made Interior an intrastate airline in 1962. Interior was well connected within Alaska. For example, future US Senator Frank Murkowski was on the board of directors.Oil
North Slope oil development drove the fortunes of Interior in the 1960s and 1970s. Exploration started in 1959 and culminated in the 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay Oil Field. The only viable transportation for Prudhoe Bay oil was a pipeline, but construction was unexpectedly blocked in 1970 by native Alaskans seeking compensation for use of their lands and by environmentalists who leveraged the newly passed National Environmental Policy Act to force the writing of an environmental impact statement. Development remained on hold until Congress intervened in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, resulting in the pipeline getting the go-ahead in early 1974. There followed an enormous economic boom, powered through 1977 by pipeline construction and thereafter by oil royalties and taxes flowing to the state.1960s exploration
To support oil exploration, in 1964 Interior built its own North Slope base at a site it named Sagwon, equipped with runway lights for night operation and a control tower. Interior needed larger aircraft, initially a Lockheed Constellation and Fairchild C-82s, but in 1968, Lockheed L-100 Hercules. A 1969 article noted how just one drilling site required 140 Hercules loads to get to the point of being ready to drill. Everything came by air, including Caterpillar tractors and earth moving equipment that used Sagwon as a base camp to drive 75 miles over tundra to get to the site, create its own landing strip, with everything else flown directly to the site, including housing modules and diesel fuel. At the time, environmental regulation was almost non existent. Sagwon's accommodations were nicknamed the Sagwon Hilton and Armpit Arms.Also in 1968, Interior, in response to requests to improve existing service, briefly offered scheduled flights with Fairchild F-27s between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Wien Air Alaska responded by adding jets to the route, after which Interior withdrew.
Bankruptcy
Anticipating pipeline construction in 1970, Interior was caught short by the delay and declared bankruptcy July 27, 1970, unable to service Hercules debt; the reduction in revenue was severe: $26.2 million in 1969 to only $9.0 million in 1970. Two other Alaska carriers flew Hercules: Red Dodge Aviation, which filed for bankruptcy in September and Alaska Airlines, which pioneered the use of Hercules in Alaska in 1965. RDA did not survive bankruptcy, ceasing operations February 1972. Alaska Airlines escaped bankruptcy, but experienced heavy losses in 1970 and 1971 and exited the Hercules business in 1972. Interior survived, re-emerging from bankruptcy in April 1971. In May, Neil Bergt was appointed president. Interior shed aircraft and people, by year-end 1971 it had only 65 employees, down from 480 before the crisis. In 1969, there had been 13 Hercules aircraft in Alaska. In summer of 1972, there was only one, controlled by Interior. Interior had others but they were flying outside the US, which is why, in June, it changed its name to Alaska International Air.History: Alaska International Air
Hercules specialist
Interior Airways flew a diverse fleet, at one time 42 aircraft across 13 types. AIA slimmed down to only Hercules, which, without pipeline revenue, it turned to operating globally. In 1973, 58% of its revenue came from foreign operations. Magoffin and Bergt both credited AIA's London agents with sourcing AIA's international revenue. Chapman Freeborn is, as of 2025, a global air charter broker that, in turn, credits AIA as its founding client. AIA Hercules flew all over the earth as well as right next door in Canada.Fletcher's Ice Island
AIA contracted to supply Fletcher's Ice Island, a flat seven mile by three mile iceberg then 1500 miles from Fairbanks with a research facility and a runway. In February 1973, an AIA Hercules, on landing, hit ice ridges not visible from the air, tearing off the wings and causing other severe damage. AIA bought the wreck from the insurance company for $68,000 for parts, but maintenance manager Art Walker proposed rebuilding it on site, in the open, on top of an iceberg, in the midst of the Arctic Ocean. AIA sourced a replacement wing, flown in by another Hercules, installed with a small hoist that could barely lift the weight. Repairs took a team of mechanics over six months. The top of the iceberg melted during summer; mechanics worked in waders in ice-cold water when not on rafts. With the runway partly melted, they relied on air-drops. In November the aircraft, certified for a ferry flight by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector flown in for the purpose, flew in stages to Fairbanks and then returned to service May 1974. The FAA awarded Art Walker for outstanding achievement. But in August, the aircraft, in the midst of unloading a delivery of gasoline in Alaska, exploded, killing the flight engineer. See [|Accidents and incidents] for 30 August, 1974.In 1955, United States Overseas Airlines also recovered a write-off on ice when an aircraft landed on frozen Hudson Bay.
Boom and diversification
In 1974, pipeline construction started and AIA boomed. It had an Alaska Hercules monopoly; Alaska was determined to protect its own. For instance, in October 1975, the CAB allowed Saturn Airways, a California carrier, to fly 26 Hercules loads for the military within Alaska, saying the material originated out of state, making it interstate commerce. The state threatened to fine Saturn and Alaska's Senators called for hearings in Washington. The Anchorage Daily News ran a front-page banner headline on the matter. During the most intense period, AIA's Hercules utilization averaged 13 block hours/day, with individual aircraft flying 21 block hours in a day. The bigger competition was road. In October 1975, a bridge across the Yukon River was completed, the last link in the haul road that paralleled the pipeline path north of Fairbanks. There was now a land link to the North Slope, reducing dependence on Hercules. AIA anticipated this, buying an Alaskan trucking firm in 1973, and in 1975, further diversified with a construction company, all under the umbrella of Alaska International Industries. AIA/AII revenues increased dramatically from $12.8 million in 1973 to $89.1 million in 1975. By year-end 1976, AII was the largest "homegrown" company in Alaska.Overseas National Airways
AIA could fly within Alaska and outside the US. It could not fly elsewhere in the US nor between the US and outside the US. As previously mentioned, it was also barred from most military contracts. In September 1976, AIA bid for Overseas National Airways, a supplemental air carrier. ONA's traffic rights filled AIA's gaps, but it was a very different carrier from AIA.ONA's main business was passenger charters to Europe. It had exited domestic air freight and ended an unsuccessful foray into hotels, riverboats and cruises. It also recently lost two DC-10 widebody aircraft within two months, luckily without loss of life. It wanted a buyer.
But banks were skeptical and did not back AIA's bid, which lapsed in December.