The demand isn't high enough. They're not willing to pay what it costs to make it worthwhile for someone to bring them what they need. They want it, but can't pay for it.
Bringing up Alaska, recall the notoriously high prices that were charged in Alaska (and other places) during Gold Rushes, etc. High enough to make it worthwhile for vendors to show up with their wares. Even today, anecdotally, Alaska is know for high prices.
Which, surprisingly to many, is a false assumption. Prices in the urban areas are, for durable goods, about the same as in most other urban areas, thanks to big box retailers.
Likewise, rural durable goods prices aren't actually that much worse than rural areas of Oregon.
The thing is, fresh foods are considerably higher statewide. But many places, even tho' they have money (thanks to state/federal subsidies) have no commerce because what they can offer cannot be sold for a price comparable to that from less remote locations. So, even tho' they can produce goods, they couldn't sell them if they wanted to, because they cannot compete with the volume discounts. And in some cases, what they can produce cannot be sold, period, due to state, federal, and/or international laws.
So, the local market stocks only imported durables, often retrieved by the store owner in person in the urban center nearest. Several coalitions exist to pack and ship to the bush, as well; they are almost entirely non-profits and reliant upon federal subsidies to exist - both subsidies for the shippers and for the consumers. To say that there is commerce in these villages is true, but it's actually almost entirely transactions happening in computers in data centers, resulting in product being shipped to remote sites. The actual commerce in those remote sites is, for all practical purposes, charity from the urban centers.
The shippers have little to no return traffic, and no local goods. If they have any return traffic, it's medevac passengers and college students.
The lack of reciprocal traffic means that there is almost no speculation; it's almost pure chartered–demand. That is to say, the retailer owns the goods before they go on the plane, the shipper flies on a charter basis - not scheduled traffic.
Even medevacs are charters, and usually two-way charter for each leg (to and from the urban hospital). EG: Joe in Iggagik breaks his hip. The VPSO calls for a medevac flight. Said flight leaves Anchorage, lands in Iggagik, loads Joe, flies him and his wife to Anchorage, where he is then transported from the airport to the hospital by ambulance or helo... And, after his surgery, the medevac has to fly them back to Iggagik, then deadhead back.
