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Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (IATA: ANC, ICAO: PANC, FAA LID: ANC) is an airport located four miles
(6.4 km) southwest of downtown Anchorage, Alaska, USA. Named after current and long-standing U.S. Senator Ted Stevens,
it is a hub for Alaska Airlines (its second largest). The majority of passenger flight operations on Alaska Airlines
are to Seattle/Tacoma (average 20 flights per day) and Fairbanks (average 13 flights per day).
Anchorage was a common stopover for passengers flying to East Asia from the 1960s to the 1980s because U.S. and Western
European aircraft could not fly over Soviet airspace, and because they did not have the range that modern day aircraft have.
Today, many cargo carriers continue to use Anchorage as a trans-Pacific hub as then aircraft can carry more cargo due
to having to carry less fuel than on a non-stop flight. Some passenger aircraft still stop at Anchorage on flights between
Asia and the eastern United States. It currently ranks as the 4th busiest cargo airport in the world (measured by landed
weight), after Memphis, Hong Kong, and Tokyo-Narita.
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