Cheap Flights to Sheldon Point Airport

Discover Sheldon Point

Sheldon Point Airport is a public airport owned by the State of Alaska DOT&PF, serving the city of Nunam Iqua, Alaska. The airport covers a total area of 49 acres, with one runway and two seaplane landing areas. The runway is designated 1/19, with a paved gravel surface and measuring 3,015 ft x 60 ft (919 m x 18 m). The seaplane landing areas are designated 9W/27W and 18W/36W, both measuring 15,000 ft x 2,000 ft (4,572 m x 610 m).

The city of Nunam Iqua was originally called Sheldon Point, when a man by the name of Sheldon opened a fish saltery in the area in the 1930s. In 1974, the city was incorporated under the name Sheldon Point. This remained for years until a November 1999-referendum renamed the city to Nunam Iqua, a Yupik name meaning "the end of the tundra." Despite the change, FAA records still list the area as Sheldon Point. The population, as of the census of 2000, was 164 people, with 35 households and 26 families residing in the city.

Nunam Iqua is part of the Wade Hampton Census Area, and only one of its many communities. The census area is part of the unorganized borough and has no borough seat. The largest community is the city of Hooper Bay on the Bering Sea Coast.

What to see & do

Truth be told, there isn't much tourism in Nunam Iqua, which isn't surprising considering its location and the amount of people who actually live there. The closest thing to a tourist attraction in the area is the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, a United States National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska. At 77,500 km², it is the second-largest of its kind in the country. The refuge encompasses a coastal plain extending to the Bering Sea, including extensive wetlands near sea level. It was established in 1980. Present in the refuge are about 35 villages and 25,000 people, many of whom are of Yup'ik Eskimo origin.

Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge's coastal region is also home to one of the largest concentrations of waterfowl in the world. The area has been breeding grounds for over one million ducks and half a million geese each year. Other birds present in the refuge are northern pintails, grebes, swans, cranes, and loons, many of which arrive in large concentrations seasonally. Other wildlife found in the park are seals, porpoises, walruses, and belug, gray, and minke whales.

How to get around within Nunam Iqua

Travelling within Alaska, especially the more remote areas, usually entail jet service. Other ways of getting around within communities are by hiking and dog mushing.

How to get there

Sheldon Point Airport is served by the airline Era Alaska. It offers scheduled passenger service between Nunam Iqua and Mountain Village Airport in the city of Mountain Village, also in the Wade Hampton Census Area.