Alaska AeroNexus Alliance: partnership aims to attract industry and generate jobs.

AuthorWallis, Kailee
PositionTRANSPORTATION

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"Our state, and therefore our city and our residents, are facing a bit of a fiscal crisis. That presents, and we hear on a daily basis, plenty of danger. It also presents a way to make people think of a different way of doing things. It presents an opportunity. Signing this memorandum is the first step in the way of trying to take advantage of this opportunity ... and think of a different way of doing things," said Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Manager John Parrott at the announcement of the AeroNexus partnership in late January.

The Alaska AeroNexus Alliance ([A.sup.3]) is a partnership created among the state-owned Ted Steven Anchorage International Airport (Anchorage airport), the Municipality of Anchorage, and the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. This unique partnership was created through a Memorandum of Agreement signed by the heads of the three entities with the purpose of developing and expanding the business that the airport is capable of and to make the airport a more marketable space for international flights to use as a re-fueling and distribution center.

Aero stands for aeronautics, the centralized focus of importance being on airport development, and Nexus stands for coming together. [A.sup.3] will serve as a unified voice of the big contenders with which potential companies and industries would need to enter into discussions in order to begin doing business at the Anchorage airport. These potential companies will be sought out by [A.sup.3] to expand the international business at the airport and increase the amount of cargo landings at the Anchorage airport.

"We're identifying lines of global supply chains and different industries that we think might have an advantage if they make an investment here, on the ground ... were going to be pitching those industries later this year and into next year. In terms of why we think they should give Anchorage a real hard look in terms of a place to make an investment," said Bill Popp, Anchorage Economic Development Corporation CEO.

Anchorage airport's centralized standpoint between Asia and North America makes it nine and a half hours from most industrial locations, according to the airport. This makes Anchorage an ideal pit stop for cargo landings--often used as a "technical stop" for international flights, adds Parrott. The airport, already capable of taking in mass amounts of cargo landings, wants to attract different industries to use...

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