The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Friday the selection of Evergreen Helicopters to provide air transportation to Little Diomede Island under the department’s Air Transportation to Noneligible Places (ATEP) program.

Little Diomede Island has been without scheduled air service since 2009, when a mechanical problem with the helicopter that had been serving the island meant residents were no longer able to reliably buy seats to and from the mainland. At the time, the only passenger service came by way of a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to provide mail to the island. When the mechanical issue arose, a smaller helicopter took over and didn’t offer space for passengers as often.

Sen. Mark Begich celebrated the contract award announcement Friday, saying he was relieved to hear villagers would soon be able to travel more easily for medical care, family issues or other concerns. Begich and his staff have worked with state and federal officials and the Alaska Legislature to find a solution to the problem for three years. Ultimately the log jam broke during the last legislative session, when the legislature appropriated $200,000 in funds to match DOT funds from the ATEP and make the issuance of a contract for service to Little Diomede from Nome possible.

The “noneligible” part of the program name refers to communities not included on the list of airports eligible for subsidies through the federal Essential Air Service program. EAS supports service to hundreds of rural communities in Alaska where the cost of providing regularly scheduled flights would mean the villages rarely got served at all. When the original list of eligible communities was created in 1978, Little Diomede was inadvertently left off the list and has been struggling with the issue ever since.

“It’s always a pleasure to help resolve bureaucratic snafus that make life difficult for Alaskans,” Begich said.