Thinking BIG at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport: Constructing new facilities to improve the world-class airport.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha

The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the number two airport in the United States for landed weight of cargo aircraft (Memphis, Tennessee is number one) and is one of the top five airports in the world for cargo throughput. In addition to its massive cargo operations, the airport serves more than 5 million passengers a year and is the world's largest and busiest floatplane base.

Additional Warehouse and Cargo Transfer Space

So there's a lot going on at the airport, with no plans to slow down. In fact, several projects are underway or being planned at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport that will allow for increased cargo activity.

The state published a public notice in November of a fifty-five-year lease agreement proposal from UPS for 1.35 million square feet of space. Authorized uses for the land include development, construction, operation, and maintenance of a flight operations building; warehousing and sorting operations; the build-up and breakdown of freight; air cargo transfer; aircraft parking and maintenance for UPS' growing 747-8 fleet; ground handling and support maintenance; associated equipment storage and maintenance; aircraft de-icing; vehicle parking; and office support. The value of the lease over the fifty-five-year period is approximately $110 million.

A UPS spokesman stated the proposed lease agreement would support future growth and efficiency for the transportation company, though no plans had been finalized as of early February.

Competitor FedEx is also looking at land options at the airport. In August airport officials announced FedEx is interested in leasing approximately 1 million square feet south of its current warehouse to build a 98,000-square-foot domestic operations center that would house administrative offices and allow for additional truck and aircraft parking. This project has an estimated cost of $57 million, and as of publication a timeline for that project had not been released.

Additionally, 6A-XL Aviation Alaska has proposed two cargo transfer facilities at the airport: one is a 500,000-square-foot quick transfer air cargo warehouse facility on the west side of the north-south runway and the other is a 300.000-square-foot building on the north end of the airport near Point Woronzof. Each building has an estimated cost of $170 million.

Cold Storage

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