The first commercial air service was founded, by aviator Roy f. Jones, in 1922. His plane, the Northbird, flew back and forth between Seattle and Ketchikan. The aircraft was able to carry three passengers at speeds up to ninety miles per hour. It crashed two years after the air service was established. Pilot Roy F. jones survived, but his plane never flew again.

Pilots like Eielson and Wien showed how important aviation was to Alaska. As a result, in 1925, Alaska's territorial legislature authorized by the board of Road Commissioners to spend up to forty thousand dollars of the two-hundred and fifty thousand dollar budget on an airfield construction. Between 1925 and 1927 many runway's were built between 700 and 1400 feet long and 300 and 600 feet wide. In 1927 24 airfields had been built. In places where airfields were not available, pilots used natural runways like beaches and gravel bars.

In the 1930's both local airline companies and national airline companies expanded their alaska service. By 1932 there were 31 airplanes in Alaska. That year they flew about 800,000 miles and carried nearly 7,000 passengers. In 1936 the planes nearly doubled to 71. The number of passengers increased to 17,000. By the end of the 1930's there were over 100 airfields in Alaska.

American participation in world war two delayed many commercial air services such as Pan America, but caused a lot of military related aviation activity in Alaska. Many big airlines from the lower forty-eight made supply flights to the Aleutians for military. After the war military planes were used for commercial airlines.