The Kenai Municipal Airport has a new manager! Welcome to the airport Derek Ables!
Ables attended the University of Alaska Anchorage and got his associates in science and air traffic control. From there, he pursued his bachelors in Aviation/Airways Management and Operations.
“I originally went to college to pursue ATC or traffic control and did the two year program there and then after that, I just wanted to continue with aviation management and that was kind of my passion. So that’s where I went and then worked my way through various roles,” said Ables.
After graduation, Ables was a Dispatcher for Ameriflight LLC in Oregon for almost three years. From there, he went to work at Klamath Regional Airport as an Airport Operations Specialist for almost four years. His most recent job, prior to joining the Kenai team, was as the Airport Manager for the City of Madras.
Ables says his favorite moment while working in Oregon was the Cascades show.
“That’s one of the biggest in the Pacific Northwest brings in up to 20,000 people so that was that was a lot of fun,” said Ables.
With being the new manager for the Kenai Municipal Airport, Ables has some big goals that he would like to achieve within his first year.
“The first goal that I have, is just looking to meet every everyone here. There’s so many great candidates out there, of course, and my goal is to listen to their needs, their reason why things are done here, and I don’t want to be too quick to rush into these. And there’s also a lot of capital improvement projects, plants that want to make sure that they get done this year, we’re planning to get to get a new plow sander. We’re also going to set the Master Plan update this year, which is a roadmap for the airport and we have a pavement crack sealing project plan as all as well as the runway reconstruction next year,” says Ables.
Ables joins the Kenai Municipal Airport after the departure of Ravn Alaska. He says that while Kenai and Grant Aviation are both doing great for the community, he is still looking into new airline candidates.
“There isn’t anything specific I have at this point that as far as anybody coming in, but I hope to reach out to more potential airlines. And then I think there’s some exciting things that could happen in the future.”
