The Alaska Story
Suzanne Downing
17 September 2026
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is entering another period of major growth, with passenger traffic climbing nearly 9%, cargo volume increasing by more than 10%, new airlines and routes arriving, and hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private investment moving forward.
A newly released Alaska International Airport System development report describes the first half of 2026 as a period of “exceptional growth, investment, and strategic advancement” for the state-owned Anchorage and Fairbanks international airports.
Anchorage handled 2.66 million passenger operations from January through June, up from 2.45 million during the same six months of 2025. That amounts to growth of approximately 9%, even though much of the reporting period covered Anchorage’s traditionally slower winter and spring travel seasons...
