Direct International Flights to Anchorage

Anchorage's Ted Stevens International Airport has a strange profile. It is one of the busiest cargo airports in the world and a fairly modest passenger one, and the reason for both is the same: geography.

Why the cargo, and why so few passengers

Anchorage sits within about nine and a half hours' flying of roughly 90 percent of the industrialised northern hemisphere. For freight between Asia and North America it is the natural technical stop, and the ranks of 747 freighters on the apron are what the airport is really for.

Passenger traffic is different. In the 1970s and 80s Anchorage was a scheduled stop for European and Asian carriers flying polar routes, because aircraft could not make the distance and Soviet airspace was closed. Long-range twin-engined aircraft and the opening of Russian airspace removed both reasons, and the international passenger schedule largely went with them.

What actually flies there now

The honest answer is that direct international passenger service to Anchorage is thin and strongly seasonal.

The reliable year-round international link is to Canada. Beyond that, summer brings a handful of seasonal services from Europe and occasionally from Asia, timed to the tourist season, and these come and go from year to year as airlines test them.

Because this changes so often, we are not going to list carriers here. A route that runs one summer may not run the next. Check the airport's own current schedule or search your dates directly.

How most international visitors actually arrive

Through Seattle. It is the main gateway, the flight to Anchorage takes about three and a half hours, and there are many services a day year-round.

Other common connections are through Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver. If you are coming from Europe or Asia, expect to connect at least once, and do not assume a polar direct exists.

One practical benefit: connecting through a US hub means you clear immigration there rather than in Anchorage, so your arrival in Alaska is a domestic one.

The seasonal pattern that governs everything

Alaska's visitor season is short: roughly late May to early September. Air service expands sharply for it and contracts afterwards.

That means summer fares are high and should be booked months ahead, and winter fares are low because demand is low. If you are coming for the aurora rather than the summer, you will pay considerably less to get there.

Arriving

Ted Stevens is about 10 minutes from downtown Anchorage, which is unusually convenient. There is a bus, and taxis and rideshares are straightforward.

If you are going on to Fairbanks or Denali, the Alaska Railroad has a depot at the airport in summer, so you can land and pick up the train without going into the city.