FAA Issues Supplemental NPRM to Establish, Modify, and Revoke Class E Airspace in Alaska

The Federal Aviation Administration published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) on September 28, 2026, proposing to establish, modify, and revoke Class E airspace areas over the state of Alaska. The document is identified as 2026-19815 (91 FR 61166) and supplements an earlier NPRM published on June 17, 2025.

The SNPRM proposes to establish five discrete areas of Class E domestic en route airspace (Class E6) over Alaska to facilitate the vectoring of instrument flight rules (IFR) aircraft on direct routes where the current en route structure is insufficient. These proposed Class E6 areas would sit within a designated landmass and within 12 miles from a designated shoreline associated with Alaska. The action also continues to propose removing two Class E6 airspace areas due to redundancy, and modifying 101 Class E airspace areas extending upward from at least 700 feet above the surface (Class E5) to remove any portion extending upward from 1,200 feet above the surface.

The SNPRM additionally proposes to remove two Class E airspace areas extending upward from 1,200 feet above the surface, revoke a duplicate Class E5 airspace legal description, and redefine airspace areas from a "Point of Origin" rather than their respective airport reference points, along with administrative amendments to the legal descriptions. The FAA states the actions are intended to support IFR operations while enhancing safety and management of aircraft operations within the National Airspace System. The comment period closes on November 12, 2026, with comments submitted via the federal eRulemaking portal or by fax to Docket Operations at (202) 493-2251, referencing docket number 24-AAL-111.

Alaska's airspace redesign belongs to the routine but consequential category of NPRM-to-SNPRM revisions, where the FAA refines an initial proposal after reviewing prior comments before locking in a final structure. Class E en route modifications of this kind typically follow years of operational feedback showing where controllers need more flexibility to vector IFR traffic directly, rather than relying on legacy route definitions tied to airport reference points.

How this segment works: operators flying IFR in Alaska rely on published Class E boundaries to know where positive air traffic control services and IFR routing options exist; shifting the reference point from airport-based descriptions to a "Point of Origin" model, and trimming Class E5 ceilings from 1,200 feet down to below that level in 101 areas, changes the practical airspace operators must plan around long before any charts are redrawn.

The next dated milestone is the close of the comment period on November 12, 2026, after which the FAA will need to address input before issuing a final rule. Operators and airspace users flying in the affected Alaska regions are the ones best positioned to flag whether the proposed Class E6 boundaries and Class E5 ceiling changes match actual traffic patterns.