Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

Ted Stevens Anchorage International ranks among the world's top five cargo airports by tonnage — handling 3.56M tonnes (2023), consistently ahead of Frankfurt, Paris, and Tokyo — despite serving a passenger market of just 5.4M. The paradox is geographic: ANC sits within 9.5 hours' flight time of 90% of the industrialized Northern Hemisphere, making it the single most efficient refueling and technical-stop point on earth for trans-Pacific freighters. FedEx and UPS operate their two largest Asia-Pacific gateways here; Cathay Cargo, Korean Air Cargo, China Airlines Cargo, Cargolux, and Atlas Air run dozens of daily widebody freighter rotations. Passenger operations are dominated by Alaska Airlines, which bases its largest non-Seattle operation at ANC with year-round service to Seattle, Portland, and seasonal nonstops to Fairbanks, Nome, Kotzebue, and dozens of bush-community points via subsidiary Ravn and PenAir. Delta and United provide Lower 48 mainline service; Condor, Icelandair, and Yakutia offer seasonal international routes. Across 59 airlines the airport serves 113 destinations on 297 scheduled routes — the cargo carrier count vastly inflates the airline total relative to passenger traffic. Three runways handle operations: 07R/25L at 12,400 ft (3,780 m), 15/33 at 10,865 ft (3,312 m), and 07L/25R at 10,600 ft (3,231 m). The North-South Runway crosses a protected wetland and is unusable in specific wind conditions, making the two parallel east-west runways the operational backbone. A dedicated cargo apron on the north side covers 3 sq km and stages up to 50 widebody freighters simultaneously. Elevation is 152 ft (46 m), and the airport's 4,608-acre (1,865 ha) site is managed by the State of Alaska rather than a local authority — one of only two major U.S. airports under direct state operation.