Pathfinder Aviation LLC

Pathfinder Aviation LLC, a small-business prime contractor based in Anchorage, Alaska, operates as an exclusive provider of rotary-wing aircraft services—helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for personnel transport, cargo movement, and aerial firefighting—to federal agencies and does not subcontract. The company competes full-and-open, with no SBA set-aside participation in its prime footprint, though one multiple-award IDC and one single-award IDC carry Total Small Business designations at the vehicle level.

Pathfinder's federal work concentrates in two distinct capability areas. The first is wildfire suppression and Type II and Type III exclusive-use helicopter services for the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service through delivery orders issued against regional IDCs, with recent awards including a $1,127,879 BLM delivery order (May 2026) for Type II services in Galena, Alaska, a $640,343 Forest Service delivery order (April 2026) for Type III services in the Galena Fire Zone, and a $1,342,739 BLM delivery order (May 2025) for Type II fire flight operations. The second is scientific-research and logistics aviation—light and medium utility helicopter support for the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Program operations, with a $6,633,172 delivery order (September 2025) for the October 2025–February 2026 Antarctic season, a $5,794,451 delivery order (May 2024) for the October 2024–February 2025 season, and a single-award IDC valued at $49,408,400 (November 2023) running through April 30, 2027. Beyond firefighting and Antarctica work, Pathfinder provides on-call helicopter services to the Department of the Interior for search and rescue, wildlife research, geophysical station maintenance, and emergency response across Alaska under a $16,470,000 multiple-award IDC.

Customer concentration is moderate but dollar-heavy in research and fire suppression. The National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs anchors $63.2 million (4 awards) in combined potential value across the award portfolio; the National Interagency Fire Center and Forest Service combine for $61.3 million (18 awards); and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region drives $50.9 million (23 awards). Together, these three customer focal points represent 96% of Pathfinder's combined potential value across 250 awards, while the Interior Business Center's on-call helicopter IDC portfolio (34 awards) accounts for most volume but only $32 million in potential value. Across 24 distinct customer agencies, Pathfinder has maintained steady regional access: the top five customers by potential value—NSF, NIFC/Forest Service, BLM Idaho, Interior policy offices, and Interior Business Center—cover 96% of dollars.

Pathfinder holds a three-leg parent-vehicle position. The company's core work sits on five large IDC vehicles: the NSF Division of Polar Programs exclusive-use rotary-wing Antarctica contract ($49.4 million ceiling, single award, through April 2027); the BLM Type II helicopter fire flight services contract ($10.75 million ceiling, single award, through April 2029); the Forest Service Type III helicopter services contract ($7.5 million ceiling, single award, Total Small Business set-aside, through March 2029); the National Interagency Fire Center helicopter support services IDIQ ($50 million ceiling, multiple award, through December 2033); and the Department of the Interior Alaska on-call helicopter IDC ($16.47 million ceiling, multiple award, Total Small Business set-aside, through February 2027). Delivery orders against these vehicles dominate the footprint. Earlier legacy vehicles—the DOI Alaska On Call Helicopter Flight Services 2017–2021 contract and various small BPAs—account for 25 and 19 task orders respectively but carry minimal remaining potential value.

Activity has accelerated in recent years. Pathfinder recorded 8 awards in 2022, declining to 6 in 2023, then jumping to 24 awards in 2024 (driven by multiple single-award IDC incumbencies and delivery-order volume under those vehicles). The 2025 and 2026 tallies (6 and 2 awards) reflect a snapshot window rather than sustained decline; the company has 3 awards totaling $8.4 million in potential value completing within the next twenty-four months and therefore entering recompete. The NSF Antarctica contract and BLM Type II IDC—both high-value single-award vehicles Pathfinder holds—will require recompete within the next three to five years.

SCI-reported invoicing captures only a slice of Pathfinder's federal helicopter-services revenue. Across FY2022–FY2024, the company reported $15.3 million in SCI-reportable prime invoicing: $4.9 million (FY2022), $4.5 million (FY2023), and $5.8 million (FY2024). The SCI dataset shows roughly 7.5 FTEs in FY2022 growing to 9.4 FTEs by FY2023–2024, all delivered by Pathfinder's own staff with zero subcontractor hours on prime SCI-reportable contracts. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable service contracts ran median around $278.73 per hour, with senior labor pricing reaching $376.98 per hour at the 90th percentile. However, SCI captures only service contracts above the $150,000 threshold; the vast majority of Pathfinder's federal revenue—including the multi-million-dollar fixed-price delivery orders for helicopter exclusive-use and charter services—flows through goods or product procurement codes (NAICS 481211, Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation) and falls outside the SCI reporting scope.

Pathfinder operates 100% as a prime contractor across its federal award portfolio and does not subcontract on named delivery orders. The company owns and operates its own rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft fleet, maintains its own pilot and mechanic crews, and executes missions internally. This operational model positions Pathfinder as a self-contained provider rather than a teaming lead or sub-vendor to larger government contractors.

The vendor's NAICS and PSC footprint reflects its aviation-operations specialization. NAICS 481211 (Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation) covers 217 of 250 awards; NAICS 481212 (Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation) covers 30 awards. Primary Service Code V2G2 (Passenger Air Charter) dominates 216 awards; secondary PSCs include Natural Resources/Conservation codes for fire suppression (19 awards) and air-freight transport codes. This category concentration is tight and decision-relevant for competitive positioning: Pathfinder faces competition primarily from other rotary-wing operators and air-charter providers bidding on federal wildfire and polar-research contracts rather than from systems integrators, IT vendors, or broader federal contractors.