Ridgeline Aviation, Inc.

Ridgeline Aviation, Inc., a small disadvantaged business and DOT-certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise headquartered in Cordova, Alaska, operates as a prime contractor providing on-call helicopter and fixed-wing aviation services to federal agencies across Alaska and occasionally Colorado, competing predominantly under Total Small Business set-asides on multiple indefinite delivery contracts and individual delivery orders.

Ridgeline's customer concentration reflects heavy reliance on Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture regional offices. The Department of the Interior's Interior Business Center anchors the dollar portfolio with three awards carrying $48.9 million in combined potential value—principally two large single-award IDIQs: a $10.28 million helicopter flight services contract through February 2027 and an $18.6 million fixed-wing on-call flight services contract through March 2031. The National Interagency Fire Center, housed within the Forest Service, drives volume with 27 awards valued at $7.7 million, followed by the Forest Service Region 10 Alaska Region (11 awards, $447 thousand), the National Park Service Alaska Region (6 awards, $258 thousand), and the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Region (8 awards, $185 thousand). These five entities account for 81% of recent awards by count and 100% by potential value, signaling steep customer concentration and exposure to recompete risk centered on Interior and Forest Service renewals.

Ridgeline's capability portfolio centers on transportation and aerial logistics: helicopter material slingload operations to remote work sites in the Chugach National Forest (500–600 pound typical loads), fixed-wing personnel and cargo transport across Alaska, wildlife reconnaissance and stranding response support for NOAA and the Fish and Wildlife Service, cadastral mapping and surveying transport for the Bureau of Land Management, and on-call support for streamgage maintenance, tower installation, and fire management operations. Representative named work includes a $127,980 single-award IDC with the Forest Service Region 10 for Cordova Ranger District helicopter materials transport (April 2026 through February 2027, with four optional renewal periods), a $10.28 million single-award IDC with Interior for helicopter flight services throughout Alaska (through February 2027), a $127,380 single-award IDC with the Forest Service under the Great American Outdoors Act for Girdwood and Seward Ranger District helicopter material transportation (September 2025 through September 2026 with two option periods), a $40,498.50 delivery order from the National Park Service Alaska Region for Erie Bunkhouse stabilization helicopter work (awarded August 2026), and a $83,850 delivery order from the Bureau of Land Management for cadastral right-of-way transport services (awarded May 2026). The vendor also holds a $20 million multiple-award fixed-wing on-call flight services IDC from the Department of Agriculture, which has generated multiple delivery orders for Copper River Delta stranding response and cadastral transport work.

Activity grew from 12 awards in 2022 to a peak of 20 in 2024, then contracted to 7 awards in 2025 and 10 through September 2026, suggesting volatility tied to delivery order volume under large parent IDCs rather than new prime vehicle wins. Five awards (combined potential value $145 thousand) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing minimal recompete exposure in the near term relative to the vendor's $57.6 million combined potential value across all 70 awards. Nearly 99% of Ridgeline's footprint sits as prime work; the vendor carries one federal grant sub-award as a sub-recipient on a University of Alaska Fairbanks marine debris removal project (December 2024). Parent vehicle concentration flows through five IDCs and one blanket purchase agreement, with the Department of Interior's helicopter and fixed-wing contracts (140D0423D0080 and related IDCs) generating the highest task-order volume and dollar magnitude. The vendor's NAICS concentration splits between nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation (38 awards) and nonscheduled chartered passenger air transportation (31 awards), with supporting activity codes for forest fire suppression presuppression work (27 awards) and air freight transportation (11 awards). Ridgeline competes exclusively under Total Small Business set-asides on its major prime IDCs, with full-and-open competition appearing only on small delivery orders against existing contracts.