Alaska Seaplanes (J5, Juneau International) has broken ground on a new cargo facility at Juneau International, which it hopes to inaugurate by summer 2023, according to local news reports.

"So it's a tight timeline for building a big facility and a kind of complicated facility. But that's our schedule right now. We're hoping we can hit that," Marketing Manager Andy Kline said at a sod-turning ceremony on October 26, marking the start of the construction phase following five years of planning.

The new cargo facility will be located adjacent to the airport's North Terminal from where the airline has been operating for the past year.

"Our cargo operations have been spread over a quarter mile during the airport expansion of the past two years. That's been a huge challenge, to say the least, and we are so looking forward to once again having a consolidated location to handle cargo for our customers," Alaska Seaplanes co-owner and General Manager Carl Ramseth explained in a statement.

Co-owner and President Kent Craford said: "It's going to be a state-of-the-art building, new technology, new processes, our whole objective is to get cargo out to the communities around Southeast Alaska with greater timeliness, greater reliability, and also be able to track all of that and better organise it."

Alaska Seaplanes focuses on Southeast Alaska. Operating from its hub at Juneau, it serves Skagway, Haines, Gustavus, Hoonah, Kake, Klawock, Petersburg James A. Johnson, Sitka, Wrangell, Angoon, Tenakee Springs, and Pelican on a year-round basis. The company carries passengers, freight, US mail and UPS shipments and also offers charter flights throughout Southeast Alaska, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest.

All Alaska Seaplanes flights are operated by either itself or Air Excursions (X4, Juneau International).

According to the company website, the fleet includes: