GOVERNOR'S RIDE: No one met minimum amount, so it will likely return to auction.
As time ran out to bid online for Alaska's state jet Thursday, the biggest spender was willing to pay only about $1.9 million for the used Westwind II.
It wasn't enough, and no one won the 22-year-old aircraft.
That doesn't mean the auction is over, said Meghan Stapleton, spokeswoman for Gov. Sarah Palin. The state plans to extend the bidding by as many as 20 days, beginning Thursday night, in hopes of finding a bigger spender.
Palin announced she would put the jet -- which former Gov. Frank Murkowski acquired over the objections of the Legislature and the public -- on eBay, the online auction site, earlier this month.
Bidding lasted for 10 days, ending at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. But no one met the secret minimum amount the state was willing to accept.
Still, Stapleton was optimistic.
"It's gone up $400,000 in three days," she said Thursday.
The state makes regular payments on the jet, which Murkowski used to fly around Alaska and the Department of Public Safety uses to zip prisoners out of state.
Stapleton has said the state needs to get about $2.5 million for the jet in order to break even.
So far, it's cost a few hundred dollars to try to sell the jet on eBay, said Dan Spencer director of administrative services for the Department of Public Safety.
If that doesn't work, it may be time to try the more expensive option of an aircraft broker, he said.
"They will get a much bigger chunk of the action if we end up having to go there."
Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins can be reached at khopkins@adn.com.
