Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the major airport in the United States state of Alaska located 4 miles (6 km) southwest of downtown Anchorage.

Constructed in 1951 as Anchorage International Airport, it was renamed by the Alaska Legislature in 2000 to honor current and long-standing U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. It is Alaska Airlines' second-largest hub, after Seattle. It is also a major cargo hub and, as of 2005, ranks as the world's third-busiest airport by cargo traffic, after Memphis and Hong Kong. The majority of passenger flight operations are on Alaska Airlines to and from Seattle (an average of 20 flights per day) and Fairbanks (an average of 13 flights per day).

Anchorage was a common stopover for passengers flying to East Asia from the 1960s to the 1980s because U.S., Asian, and Western European aircraft could not fly over Soviet airspace, and because they did not have the range that modern-day aircraft have. Today, many cargo carriers continue to use Anchorage. Some passenger aircraft still stop at Anchorage on flights between Asia and the eastern United States.

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport's traffic has hovered around the five million mark for the last 10 years, apart from in 2002 when the airport suffered a 13% drop in traffic. Fairbanks and Juneau are the next busiest airports though neither managed more than one million passengers last year. Anchorage traffic peaks in June, July and August when passenger numbers are twice as high as between October and April.

FedEx Express and United Parcel Service operate major hubs at Anchorage International for cargo heading to and from the Far East. NWA Cargo also operates a major hub at the airport. FedEx Express is the airport's largest cargo facility and can handle as many as 13,400 packages per hour, employing more than 1,200 people and providing a full customs clearance system. United Parcel Service's hub handles about 5,000 parcels per hour. Both companies forecast a large growth in traffic over the next several years as trade with China and other Far East countries increases and plan to expand their Anchorage facilities comparatively. The United States Postal Service also operates a large sectional center facility (SCF) for the 995xx ZIP codes. It processes mail and parcels headed to and from all Alaska cities.

Anchorage is also envisioned as a future connecting point for air traffic to the Russian Far East. There is during the summer season 2008 only one weekly flight to Russia, by Vladivostok Air. Also, there are plans to add flights to Sakhalin in the near future to meet the demands of U.S. oil companies. Many of Alaska's North Slope workers live either in Anchorage or elsewhere in the Lower 48 states and fly through the airport to their jobs in Prudhoe Bay.

Facilities and aircraft

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport covers and has three asphalt paved runways: 7L/25R measuring 10,600 x 150 ft (3,231 x 46 m), 7R/25L at 10,900 x 150 ft (3,322 x 46 m) and 14/32 at 11,584 x 150 ft (3,531 x 46 m).

For 12-month period ending December 14, 2006, the airport had 289,472 aircraft operations, an average of 793 per day: 37% scheduled commercial, 35% general aviation, 27% air taxi and 1% military. There are 169 aircraft based at this airport: 59% multi-engine, 27% helicopters, 11% military and 3% jet aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

South Terminal (Domestic Terminal)

Concourse A

• Air Canada (Vancouver) [seasonal]
• American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) [seasonal]
• Frontier Airlines (Denver) [seasonal]
• Frontier Flying Service (Aniak, Bethel, Fairbanks, Galena, St. Mary's)
• Grant Aviation (Emmonak, Kenai, Homer)
• Hageland Aviation Services (Unalakleet)

Concourse B

This concourse is currently closed for renovation.

Concourse C

• Alaska Airlines (Adak [seasonal], Barrow, Bethel, Chicago-O'Hare, Cordova, Denver [seasonal], Dillingham, Fairbanks, Honolulu, Juneau, King Salmon, Kahului [seasonal; begins October 31], Kodiak, Kotzebue, Los Angeles [seasonal], Nome, Petersburg, Portland (OR), Prudhoe Bay, San Francisco [seasonal], Seattle/Tacoma, Vancouver [seasonal])
• Northwest Airlines (Detroit [seasonal], Minneapolis/St. Paul)

L Gates

• Era Aviation (Bethel, Cordova, Fairbanks, Homer, Kenai, Kodiak, Valdez)
• PenAir (Aniak, Cold Bay, Dillingham, King Salmon, McGrath, Sand Point, St. George, St. Paul, Unalakleet)

North Terminal (International Terminal)

Despite the terminal's name, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Sun Country Airlines and US Airways serve domestic destinations using this terminal.

• China Airlines (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
• Condor Airlines (Frankfurt) [seasonal]
• Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental, Seattle/Tacoma)
• Dalavia (Khabarovsk, Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky)
• Delta Air Lines (Atlanta [seasonal], Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky [seasonal], Salt Lake City)
• Sun Country Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul) [seasonal]
• US Airways (Phoenix)
• Vladivostok Air (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Vladivostok)

Summer-only charter airlines

• Japan Airlines (Fukuoka, Nagoya-Centrair, Osaka-Kansai, Tokyo-Narita)
• Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
• Omni Air International
• North American Airlines

Cargo airlines

• ABX Air
• Aeroflot-Cargo
• Air Canada Cargo (operated by World Airways)
• Air China Cargo
• Air Atlanta Icelandic
• Alaska Airlines
• Alaska Central Express
• ANA & JP Express
• Asiana Cargo
• Atlas Air
• Cargo 360
• Cathay Pacific Cargo
• China Airlines Cargo
• China Cargo Airlines
• Empire Airlines
• Era Aviation
• EVA Air Cargo
• Evergreen International Airlines
• Everts Air Cargo
• FedEx Express
• Gemini Air Cargo
• JAL Cargo
• Kalitta Air
• Korean Air Cargo
• Lynden Air Cargo
• Nippon Cargo Airlines
• Northern Air Cargo
• NWA Cargo
• Polar Air Cargo
• Shanghai Airlines Cargo
• Singapore Airlines Cargo
• Southern Air
• Trans Northern
• Transmile Air Services
• Tradewinds Airlines
• UPS Airlines
• World Airways

Ground transport

Inter-terminal

A shuttle bus runs approximately every 15 minutes between the North and South terminals, and the rental car lots.

To/from airport

Route 7A of the Anchorage "People Mover" bus system serves the airport's South Terminal once every hour, connecting it with the downtown Transit Center and the Dimond Center mall.

Renovations

Renovations began on the A and B concourses in fall 2006. These renovations are designed to bring the older portions into compliance with current seismic, heating, ventilation, electrical and safety codes, and also include new baggage handling systems and renovations to the interior of the concourses. As a result of the construction, Continental Airlines' gates were temporarily moved to the North Terminal in 2006 and Northwest Airlines' ticketing and baggage facilities were permanently moved to the C concourse. When construction is completed in late 2009, Continental, Delta, and US Airways will move to the South Terminal, consolidating the domestic airlines at ANC.

References

External links

• Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (official site)
• FAA Alaska airport diagram (GIF)