08/24/2026
Citizen Air is a locally-grown company dedicated to the Olympic Peninsula! Company owner and CEO
Kelly Kidwell founded Citizen Air to restore dependable, locally rooted aviation service to the Olympic Peninsula, and to create year-round, living-wage jobs close to home. A longtime pilot, Kelly first fell in love with the Peninsula from the cockpit of his own plane some twenty years ago, flying in with his wife, Cristy, to camp, hike, and explore before the two decided to make it their permanent home. When Rite Bros. Aviation, the Peninsula’s charter service since 1981, faced an uncertain future, Kelly stepped in through Citizen Air to assume its operations, unwilling to let a community surrounded by water and mountains lose its access to the air.