The Anchorage summer visitor season lifts off this month with five airlines adding a total of 42 new nonstop flights per week through September.
At Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Air Canada, American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines each are adding one daily nonstop seasonal flight, while United Airlines is adding two daily nonstop flights.
Increased numbers of seasonal flights support the tourism industry and the added convenience of those flights can attract more visitors, said Bruce Bustamante, Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau president and chief executive.
"The increase in air service is critical in meeting high demand during the summer season," he said.
Anchorage already has year-round nonstop flights to Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Seattle, but summer generates increased demands on those routes and adds others, including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit and Los Angeles, he said.
"This is convenient for travelers originating from those cities, and it provides more inventory for connecting passengers since most are hubs," Bustamante said. "More flights equates to more options and greater opportunity and convenience for travelers to visit Anchorage."
Linda Close, Anchorage airport marketing manager, said the additional flights provide direct revenue to the airport and spur the Anchorage economy.
Additional summer nonstop flights between Anchorage and Lower 48 states affect passenger traffic, according to a July 2001 report by the University Alaska Anchorage's Institute for Social and Economic Research. ISER's Scott Goldsmith prepared the report for the airport, which funded it.
Due mainly to visitors, the number of departing passengers at the airport has increased at an annual rate of 2.7 percent since 1990, the report said.
"In recent years there have been twice as many departing passengers during summer months compared to winter," the report said. "This seasonal pattern is becoming more accentuated over time as the visitor share of passenger traffic continues to grow."
Last year an estimated 5.05 million passengers passed through the airport, up from 5.02 million in 2000, the study showed.
Visitors at the airport, either Alaskans from other towns or out-of-state travelers, affect the state and city economy, Goldsmith wrote.
"We estimate that spending in Anchorage by visitors who arrive by air annually accounts for 6,051 jobs in the community and $115 million in payroll. Many, if not most, of the nonresident visitors continue on to other locations within the state and impact those economies as well."
In May and early June airlines expand their daily service to Alaska, including additional new seasonal nonstop flights.
This year, Air Canada picked up service from Anchorage to Vancouver, British Columbia, from now bankrupt Canada 3000, Close said. The air carrier expands Canada 3000's previous three times a week service to seven flights weekly, she said.
The service, which began May 13, runs through Sept. 15 and responds to a strong cruise market, company officials said. Many Alaska cruises use Vancouver as a home port.
American Airlines is adding a new daily nonstop flight between Anchorage and Chicago this summer, Close said. When the company acquired Trans World Airlines it also picked up daily Anchorage flights to Dallas, Chicago and St. Louis, she said.
Continental Airlines began a daily nonstop flight between Anchorage and Portland, Ore., on May 2. The company also operates daily nonstop flights through September to Houston and Newark, N.J. The flight between Anchorage and Newark begins June 13.
Beginning June 7, Northwest Airlines will also boost its summer flights to Alaska. This year the company is adding a second daily nonstop flight between Anchorage and Detroit, Close said. Northwest boosts its twice-daily, year-round nonstop flights to Minneapolis to five daily flights through September.
Northwest also operates a daily nonstop summer flight between Fairbanks and Minneapolis.
Another factor affecting summer tourism passenger air arrivals should be Alaska Airlines' new service to Boston and Denver from Seattle, as well as its flights to Washington, D.C., Close said.
In April, Alaska Airlines began service to Boston with one daily flight from Seattle. The company will serve Denver with three daily flights from Seattle plus two from Portland, Ore., and one from Boise, Idaho. The airline recently increased its service to Washington, D.C., with a second daily nonstop flight from Seattle to Washington Dulles International Airport. Alaska Airlines already runs one nonstop flight to Dulles and another to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
