Anchorage Ted Stevens Airport

If you love the Boeing 747, sooner or later your thoughts end up in Anchorage. For passengers, the airport in southern Alaska is more of a large regional airport – but for air cargo it is one of the most important hubs in the world. Almost everything that crosses the Pacific with a heavy load between East Asia and North America stops here. The result is a traffic picture that exists nowhere else: jumbo freighters in a row, against a backdrop of sea inlet, mountains and snow.

Why Anchorage of all places?

The reason is geography. On a globe, the shortest connection between two points is not a straight line on a flat map but an arc – the so-called great-circle route. Between East Asia and the eastern or central US, this arc leads far to the north, right past Alaska. Why aircraft fly these seeming detours is explained in the article on great-circle flight routes.

For a freighter, a stopover in Anchorage means one thing above all: more cargo. A fully loaded jumbo would need so much kerosene for a nonstop flight from Shanghai to Chicago that payload would have to be left behind. With a fuel stop in the middle, it flies with less fuel and more cargo. The airport itself advertises that from Anchorage, about 90 percent of the industrialized world can be reached within roughly nine and a half hours of flight time. Add crew changes and the transfer of shipments between different flights – Anchorage is more than a gas station.

From polar stopover to cargo hub

The airport opened in December 1951. It gained international importance a few years later: in 1957, SAS flew a Douglas DC-7C over the North Pole from Copenhagen to Tokyo – with a stopover in Anchorage. Because Western airlines were not allowed to overfly the Soviet Union and aircraft range was limited, Anchorage became the standard fuel stop between Europe and East Asia over the following decades. From the 1960s, cargo joined in, and until the 1980s the airport carried the nickname Crossroads of the World.

That era ended with two developments at almost the same time: Russian airspace opened up, and long-range aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400 could fly the routes nonstop. Passenger flights with a stopover disappeared – the cargo stayed, because it follows different rules. For a freighter, every ton of payload counts, and the position on the great-circle route is still unbeatable for that. You can read about how the 747 developed over the decades in the history of the Boeing 747.

Since 2000, the airport has carried the name of longtime Senator Ted Stevens. In 2025, according to Airports Council International, it reached third place in the world with just under 3.9 million tons of cargo and mail, and for the first time first place in the US. Only Hong Kong and Shanghai Pudong were ahead of Anchorage; unlike at the other airports at the top, however, the figure also includes transit cargo. In the US, ANC is thus in the same league as the integrator hubs Louisville and Memphis.

Three runways on Cook Inlet

The airport lies about eight kilometers southwest of downtown, right on the water of Cook Inlet. Three runways are available: two parallel ones running east–west and a crosswind runway running north–south.

The length of the main runway matters especially for freighters: a jumbo with full fuel and cargo needs a long run to get off the ground. Which runway is used for what at any moment depends on wind, weather and traffic. Check it live in a flight tracker before you head out – how that works is covered in the article on flight tracking with ADS-B. You can find the basics on wind direction under understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

Who lands in Anchorage

Several cargo airlines run Anchorage as a hub: FedEx Express, UPS Airlines, Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, which belongs to the Atlas group. How the big parcel carriers organize their networks is explained in the article on the express integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

On top of that come numerous Asian cargo carriers that stop over here on the way to the US. They include the cargo divisions of Korean Air, China Airlines, EVA Air and Cathay Pacific, as well as Nippon Cargo Airlines. Kalitta Air and other cargo airlines from around the world also show up regularly. Which airline comes how often fluctuates with the market – the freighter schedule changes faster than the one for passenger flights.

The passenger side

In passenger traffic, Anchorage is firmly in the hands of Alaska Airlines, which runs its Alaska hub here and holds a good two thirds of the market. The airline belongs to the Alaska Air Group and to the oneworld alliance. Delta, United and American also fly here, mainly to their hubs in the Lower 48. The most important route is Seattle with well over 800,000 passengers a year.

International passenger flights are few and mostly seasonal. Interesting for spotters from German-speaking countries: Condor has flown nonstop to Anchorage from Frankfurt in recent summers. Whether and when the connection runs is best checked directly in the current schedule.

The 747 paradise

What makes Anchorage so special for spotters is the sheer number of jumbos. While passenger 747s have almost disappeared from Europe, the freighter versions keep flying in large numbers on the Pacific route. The 747-400F and the 747-8F define the scene. UPS, for example, uses its 747-8Fs on Pacific routes and in 2019 announced an expansion in Anchorage including maintenance facilities for this fleet.

Besides the jumbos, you see the Boeing 777F, which many airlines use as a successor, and with some luck an MD-11F – the three-engine jet has become rare, though. Smaller freighters like the 767-300F round out the picture.

Precisely because so many 747s stand side by side here, a close look at the differences is worthwhile. The 747-8F is longer, has new engines with serrated trailing edges on the cowlings and different wingtips than the 747-400F. How to reliably tell the variants apart is shown in the articles identifying Boeing 747 variants and identifying freighter aircraft.

Spotting in Anchorage

There is no official observation deck like at many European airports in Anchorage. The spots are outside the airport grounds, mainly in the west by the water.

Point Woronzof

The best-known place is Point Woronzof, a park at the western tip of the airport grounds. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail runs along the shore here, and the airport grounds border it on the other side. Depending on the runway direction in use, freighters climb into the sky over Cook Inlet or come in to land over the water. In clear weather, you can even see Denali in the background – a motif you will find at no other cargo airport. All the details about the location are in the spot guide, and more tips for the trip are in the article plane spotting in Anchorage.

Lake Hood

Just northeast of the airport lies Lake Hood, one of the busiest seaplane bases in the world. Bush planes such as the DHC-2 Beaver and the DHC-3 Otter take off and land on the water here, and there is also a gravel strip for wheeled aircraft. On the shore is the Alaska Aviation Museum with historic aircraft from Alaska’s aviation past. For a day in Anchorage, the combination of jumbos in the morning and floatplanes in the afternoon is hard to beat.

Alaska’s regional freighters

An insider tip for lovers of old aircraft are the cargo airlines that supply Alaska itself. Northern Air Cargo was for a long time one of the last operators of the Boeing 737-200 as a freighter, Lynden Air Cargo operates the L-100 Hercules, and Everts Air Cargo flies piston aircraft such as the Douglas DC-6. Aircraft like these you see in Europe at most in a museum.

Winter, weather and volcanoes

Anchorage is not a fair-weather airport. In winter there is cold, snow and ice; freighters have to be de-iced, runways cleared. For you that means warm clothing, spare camera batteries and a look at the weather forecast. You will find tips for the cold season in the article plane spotting in winter; how de-icing works is explained in the article on de-icing aircraft.

On top of that comes a peculiarity of the region: active volcanoes. In 1989, a KLM 747 on approach to Anchorage flew into the ash cloud of Mount Redoubt, and all four engines failed. The crew managed to restart them and landed safely. The incident is still regarded as a textbook case of why volcanic ash is so dangerous for aviation. In 2018, a strong earthquake also damaged the terminal and the tower.

Anchorage compared

In Europe, Leipzig/Halle Airport plays a similar role as a cargo hub, though mainly for DHL and with much heavier night operations. Liège Airport is another cargo airport with many 747s in the heart of Europe. On the Asian side of the Pacific route lie hubs such as Hong Kong Airport and Seoul Incheon Airport – many of the freighters you see in Anchorage come from there.

If you combine the trip to Alaska with a stop in Seattle, you will find the Museum of Flight there and, in Everett, the final assembly of Boeing. That makes for a tour that covers everything from the factory floor to service on the Pacific route.

Conclusion

Anchorage is the counter-design to the big passenger hubs. Instead of A380s and hundreds of short-haul jets, you see freighters here – above all Boeing 747s in a density that is unmatched worldwide. Its position on the great-circle route between Asia and North America has turned the airport from the polar stopover of the 1950s into the third-largest cargo airport in the world.

The trip is long, the weather is rough, and there is no observation deck. In return you get jumbos in front of mountains and sea, floatplanes next door and old freighters that have long since ended up in museums elsewhere. Plan by season, runway direction and cargo waves – then every hour at Cook Inlet is worth it.