Bucking trends.

• Position: Air Transportation - Brief Article

Alaska's domestic passenger traffic at Anchorage and Fairbanks international airports continues to grow while national passenger totals are declining. According to Air Transport Association of America figures, domestic passenger travel nationwide for the first half of 1991 is down from the same period in 1990.

At Anchorage International Airport, domestic arrivals and departures for fiscal year 1991 (Aug. 1, 1990, to June 30, 1991) rose 11.4 percent from the previous year, to 3.4 million. Although the opening of Siberian airspace to Asian and European international passenger traffic continued to decrease AIA international activity -- from 1.5 million passengers in FY 1990 to 1 million in FY 1991 -- the total number of passenger aircraft landings for the airport reached 65,416, an increase of 10 percent from the previous year. At Fairbanks International Airport, passenger arrivals and departures rose slightly less than 1 percent, to 565,000.

Anders Westman, director of marketing for...