Barter Island Long Range Radar Station Airport guide

Barter Island LRRS Airport (ICAO PABA) sits on Barter Island, off the Beaufort Sea coast of Alaska's North Slope. It serves the Iñupiat village of Kaktovik, which had 283 residents at the 2020 census. No road links the island to the rest of Alaska, so the airstrip carries the community's passengers, mail and freight.

The U.S. military built the original runway in 1947 and extended it in 1953. The Air Force took control of the island in 1951 for a Distant Early Warning Line station, later redesignated a Long Range Radar Site under the North Warning System. The airport stays open for the village and for contractor access to the radar site.

There is one gravel runway, 7/25, and no control tower. The North Slope Borough owns the airport. Everts Air serves Fairbanks, and Wright Air Service flies to Deadhorse and Fairbanks. The FAA counted 1,941 enplanements at Kaktovik in its 2024 preliminary data.