 September 09, 2004
The airport expects 36 new weekly cargo flights at Anchorage beginning immediately and another 26 weekly cargo flights in March 2005. The increased cargo traffic comes from a U.S. China aviation agreement signed in July by Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Civil Aviation Administration of China Minister Yang Yuanyuan. "This announcement will strengthen and diversify the Alaska economy and position us well for future trade," Governor Frank H. Murkowski said. "These flights will also serve to increase access to foreign markets for our local businesses." The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to distribute a total of 39 new weekly all-cargo flights between FedEx, Northwest Airlines and UPS, which currently operate all-cargo flights to and from China. Transportation officials also named Polar Air Cargo as a new entrant into the U.S.-China market. Federal transportation officials propose awarding Polar Air nine weekly flights between the U.S. and China. Six of these flights would be immediately available and three more would begin March 25, 2005. Under the plan, FedEx and UPS would receive 12 additional weekly flights and Northwest would receive six. Half of these respective flights would be immediately available and the other half would begin in March 2005. The agreement will result in
36 new weekly cargo landings at Anchorage in the short term and
another 26 cargo landings per week in March 2005. The 62 new
weekly cargo flights are expected to generate over $5 million
in annual airport revenues.
Source of News Release:
|