Report shows Ted Stevens International is Economic Engine.

A New Study Highlights Strength of Ted Stevens International

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by Mike Ford

Story Created: Jan 27, 2012 at 11:39 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Jan 27, 2012 at 11:54 PM AKDT

A recent report conducted by the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation is showing how vital Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is to the economy of Alaska's largest city.

 
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is  one of the top stops in the world for air cargo. With close to six billion pounds of cargo making its way through Anchorage each year we rank domestically only behind Memphis Tennessee, home to Fed Ex.
 
Airport Manager John Parrott points out it is a matter of geography  "Our location on the globe is nine and a half hours from 90% of the industrialized world. That makes us a trading center and puts us on a global scale with airports like Hong Kong, Memphis, Shanghai, and Soul. Those are global airports and Anchorage is number five, right there with them"
 
According to the study all this traffic is beneficial to the Anchorage economy.  AEDC President Bill Popp found  "One out of ten jobs are either directly or indirectly related to the airport. Those 15,500 employees deposit about a billion dollars in payroll annually in local banks, that's a big part of the over all commerce picture in the city of Anchorage"
 
Passengers are also a big part of the airports business with more than two million a year coming through, headed to 136 different Alaskan and international destinations. 
 
Parrott says his staff is ready "They may come up on a boat and fly back, or fly up and go back on a boat,or fly up both ways they're going to spend some time at the airport. We want to make sure the airport is a welcoming, pleasant place for visitors to go through"
 
With planes headed west still showing capacity for more cargo, the study points to an opportunity to fill Asia bound planes with Alaskan goods. Popp prompts "Put high dollar, high quality manufactured goods on these planes, its just a question of what are these goods?"
 
 

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