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The Future of General Aviation at ANC

General Aviation (GA) has always played a key role in Alaska, providing transportation, support and recreation for a wide range of Alaskan requirements. The State and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport are committed to the importance of our GA activities and that our programs are doing well. Numerous GA projects have been completed such as the new Echo parking area with security lighting and electrical outlets. Our dedicated management efforts on the Lake Hood Complex have also resulted in the Airport obtaining an additional $1,000,000 per year from the FAA for additional projects specifically designated for Lake Hood projects.

The Airport's construction of a new Quick Turnaround Facility (QTF) and Field Maintenance Complex (FMC) are considered critical to the safety, security and operational elements that keep the Airport open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The QTF has been completed and preliminary construction has commenced on the FMC. The time saved by being centrally located close to all the runways is critical during major winter storms. Further, runway closures have significant capacity and delay implications which result in major financial impacts on the airlines. There are also significant life cycle cost benefits associated with those new facilities.

Due to the importance of GA at the Airport, considerable planning efforts were conducted to ensure that essential equivalent and improved parking is maintained for our GA customers. As part of our program to provide an improved and effective operations area with safer aircraft traffic flow patterns, we commenced a program to redistribute and balance general aviation parking. As such, we constructed a new Echo parking area that is located close to the Lake Hood gravel airstrip. The new "Echo" GA parking area will allow a greater degree of accessibility to the Lake Hood Airstrip and significantly lessen aircraft crossings between Lake Hood Strip and ANC, with decreased taxiing distances. Aircraft owners who desire to remain close to the Airport's main runways may park in Alpha, Bravo or the modified Charlie parking areas. There is no net loss in aircraft parking. It should also be noted Charlie parking retains approximately 30 aircraft parking positions.

In March 2004, the Airport sent out a survey to all our GA customers to validate prior assessments on GA parking and operations. The survey results showed that the majority of respondents expressed a preference to relocate closer to Lake Hood Strip (Echo parking), and were pleased with the overall management of Lake Hood.

In summary, the Airport has developed new parking areas to redistribute and balance GA aircraft operations with requirements for improved safety, support and efficiency. We believe our actions have improved the overall support, safety and operational benefits to general aviation.

Questions? Contact: dot.aia.lhd.office@alaska.gov