Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (IATA: ANC, ICAO: PANC, FAA LID: ANC)^[2] is a major airport in the U.S. state of Alaska located 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) southwest of downtown Anchorage.^[1] The eastern end of the airport's southernmost runway connects to Kulis Air National Guard Base, which is located on land leased by the airport.

Background

Built in 1951 as Anchorage International Airport, it was renamed by the Alaska Legislature to honor former long-standing U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. It is Alaska Airlines' third-largest hub, after Seattle and Portland. Anchorage was a common stopover for passengers flying to East Asia from the 1960s to the 1980s because Chinese and Soviet airspace were off-limits and because the first generation of jets and widebody airliners did not have the range to fly nonstop across the Pacific Ocean. Some passenger aircraft still stop at Anchorage on flights between Asia and the eastern United States. On September 1, 1983 one of these flights, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet pilot who had mistaken it for a spy plane, after unintentionally violating Soviet airspace. Cargo carriers, which benefit from short route segments, continue to use Anchorage frequently.

Airport diagram for April 1956

Passenger traffic

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport's passenger 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 half a million passengers last year. Anchorage traffic peaks in June, July and August when passenger numbers are twice as high as between October and April.^[3] Most major U.S. passenger carriers serve ANC, with the majority of passenger flight operations by Alaska Airlines to and from Seattle (an average of 20 flights per day) and Fairbanks (an average of 13 flights per day).

Anchorage is also envisioned as a future connecting point for air traffic to the Russian Far East. During the summer season 2008, there was one weekly flight to Russia by Vladivostok Air. Yakutia Airlines resumed summer seasonal service to Russia in 2012.^[4] 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.

International cargo hub

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is also a major cargo hub. As of 2010, it ranked as the fifth busiest airport in the world by cargo traffic, after Hong Kong, Memphis, Shanghai, and Seoul.

FedEx Express and UPS Airlines operate major hubs at Anchorage International for cargo heading to and from the Far East.^[3] NWA Cargo used to operate a major hub at the airport until December 28, 2009 when it closed all operations for Northwest Cargo at all airports. 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.

Facilities and aircraft

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport covers 4,500 acres (1,821 ha) and has three asphalt paved runways: 7L/25R measuring 10,600 x 150 ft (3,231 x 46 m), 7R/25L at 12,400 x 200 ft (3,780 x 61 m) and 15/33 at 11,584 x 150 ft (3,531 x 46 m).^[1]

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.^[1]

The FAA has forecast total operations for the year 2011 to be 261,375. By the year 2030 this number is expected to rise to 334,279 or 918.882 operations per day.^[5]

For 12-month period ending December 31, 2009, the airport had a total of 2,102,088 enplaned passengers go through the terminals.^[6]

Terminals

South Terminal (domestic)

The South Terminal serves Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Condor (Departures), Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Sun Country, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America. All regional intrastate carriers also use the South Terminal.

The terminal contains 3 concourses: Concourse A, Concourse B, and Concourse C. Concourse C was completely rebuilt in 2004 while Concourses A and B were built in 1985 and 1969 respectively and renovated in 2009.^[7] Architects HNTB and RIM Architects performed the architectural work for these projects.^[8]

North Terminal (international)

The North Terminal serves Condor (Arrivals), Icelandair, Yakutia Airlines, and international seasonal charter flights. In addition to these airlines, a few cargo airlines use the north side of the terminal for parking. This terminal was built in 1982.^[7]

Airlines and destinations

US mainline carriers operate a combination of year-round and seasonal service to the lower 48 states and Hawaii. Foreign carriers operate seasonal flights and seasonal charters to Asia and Europe, sold as bundled services. China Airlines terminated ANC-TPE service, due to availability of longer range aircraft (reducing the need for an incidental stop), compounded by $2.5 million levy by the TSA^{[9][not in citation given]}

Top destinations

Scheduled cargo airlines