Pathfinder Aviation LLC

Pathfinder Aviation LLC, a small business based in Anchorage, Alaska, operates as a prime contractor delivering exclusive-use rotary-wing aircraft services—light and medium utility helicopters, Type II and Type III fire-suppression aircraft, and ski-equipped fixed-wing support—to federal agencies across Antarctica, Alaska, and the Lower 48 states. The vendor competes in full-and-open procurements without set-aside designations on most work; recent awards carry a small number of Total Small Business set-aside delivery orders (notably Operation Ice Camp support and Galena Fire Zone services). Pathfinder does not subcontract; all delivery is performed in-house across its own aircraft fleet and pilot crews.

The vendor's customer base concentrates heavily on research and wildfire missions. The National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs dominates by potential value—five awards carrying $70 million combined ceiling—anchored by a $49.4 million single-award IDC for exclusive rotary-wing services in Antarctica running through April 2027, against which NSF has issued firm fixed-price delivery orders for consecutive Antarctic seasons (October 2024–February 2025: $5.8 million; October 2025–February 2026: $6.6 million; October 2026–February 2027: $6.8 million). The National Interagency Fire Center accounts for 18 awards totaling $61.3 million in potential value, primarily small delivery orders for Type II helicopter support under a $50 million multiple-award IDIQ. The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region represents 23 awards, $52 million combined potential value, delivered under a newly awarded $10.75 million single-award IDC for exclusive-use Type II fire-flight services in Galena, Alaska (awarded May 2024, running through April 2029). A second Interior IDC—$7.5 million single-award for Type III helicopter services in the Galena Fire Zone, Total Small Business set-aside, awarded April 2024 through March 2029—adds to fire-suppression capacity. A third Interior vehicle, a $16.47 million multiple-award on-call helicopter IDC (March 2022–February 2027, Total Small Business set-aside), spans remote Alaska locations including Gates of the Arctic National Park, the Lower Susitna region, and Unimak Island. The Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Department of the Navy (Naval Sea Systems Command) round out the active customer set, each issuing small-value task orders for specialized aerial work.

Award activity has been volatile. The past five years show eight awards in 2022, six in 2023, a spike to 24 in 2024, a drop to six in 2025, and three through September 2026. Only one award (combined potential value $6.8 million) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months—the September 2027 Antarctic delivery order awarded September 1, 2026—presenting a limited recompete cliff. The vendor's award portfolio spans 251 prime contracts with a combined potential value of $263.3 million, of which $52 million has been obligated (20% utilization). The portfolio is entirely prime work; Pathfinder serves no named subcontractor roles.

Service Contract Inventory data for FY2022–FY2025 captures only a small slice of federal aviation work (contracts above the $150,000 threshold, excluding pure equipment rentals and goods). SCI-reported invoicing totaled $19.5 million across those four fiscal years, with FY2024 peaking at $5.8 million and roughly 9.4 FTEs. Median government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable contracts ran around $278.73 per hour, with senior labor pricing through $376.98 per hour. Pathfinder reports zero subcontractor hours across prime SCI records—a reflection of the vendor's exclusive-delivery model.

The vendor's NAICS footprint is dominated by Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation (218 awards), with a smaller set of Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation awards (30) and one Commercial Air equipment-leasing award. PSC codes track the same pattern: Passenger Air Charter (217 awards), Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression (19 awards), and scattered air-freight and air-passenger codes. Pathfinder's capability is narrowly specialized—rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft operations in extreme or remote environments—with no horizontal service-line or IT diversification. The vendor holds no GSA Schedule, GWAC, or government-wide vehicle seats; all work flows through agency-specific IDCs and delivery orders.