The global recession has not affected passenger traffic to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport quite as badly as some Lower 48 airports, but the downturn has hit the state's cargo business, the Alaska deputy commissioner said.
Cargo traffic saw a 26 percent decline, in part due to volcanic activity last spring, but also because of the downturn in the global economy, said Christine Klein, the state's deputy commissioner of aviation and acting director of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Passenger traffic was off, primarily due to reductions in cruise ship traffic, she said.
Klein spoke to legislators at a Senate Transportation Committee hearing held in Anchorage Sept. 26.
Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, had asked for the hearing after receiving complaints from the public about airport construction along Raspberry Road. Hollis had a family emergency, and did not attend the hearing.
Remaining committee members asked Klein and airport manager John Parrott about the financial and economic health of the Anchorage airport.
Klein said she has delayed plans to generate a new master plan for the Anchorage airport. Master plans lay out future facilities development.
"I spoke with the signatory carriers (airlines) and they voiced concern over spending additional funds to start a new master plan for the Anchorage airport said," she said.
Klein said that it would be better to develop a plan for the Alaska International Airport System, comprised of the airports in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The system has operated since 1961 without a combined plan.
Klein told legislators that the system needed to better serve the capabilities of Fairbanks International Airport.
The state Department of Transportation in May submitted a request to the Federal Aviation Administration asking for $1 million to build a system master plan. The master plan would be funded mostly with federal money, requiring a 5 percent match by the state.
The Anchorage and Fairbanks airports have the lowest landing fees in the U.S. Klein said she intended to keep the costs to the carriers as low as possible so that the system would not lose business.
In public testimony, representatives from residents living near the airport said they were frustrated by the lack of communication from airport officials. The airport's community affairs position was eliminated earlier this year.
