Behind the Scenes at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

Ruth Rosewarne Kimerer from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport joins Jennie to talk about aviation in Alaska as well as navigating arriving and departing in Anchorage.

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

Jennie Flaming: 0:03

Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host Jennie Flaming, my occasional co host and full time husband Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel and life in Alaska. are you passing through the Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport on your trip to Alaska chances are you are because a lot of people who visit Alaska pass through Anchorage and pass through the airport. So today we are going behind the scenes at Ted Stevens anchorage International Airport. My guest today is Ruth. Ruth has lived in Alaska for 30 years and worked in tourism for 20 years. She is a retired snowboarder, and an avid hiker and an epic dog mom. She loves to welcome visitors from near and far to her home in Anchorage. And Ruth works at the airport. Welcome to Alaska uncovered. Thank you for being here.

Ruth: 2:03

Thank you, Jennie. It's really I'm very excited to be here and have this conversation. Me too.

Jennie Flaming: 2:09

This is gonna be so fun. I am a little bit of an aviation geek. And so it'll it's really fun to talk about the airport and all this. Yeah,

Ruth: 2:19

aviation is a fun topic and Alaska specifically. So

Jennie Flaming: 2:22

yes, it sure is. So before we get into that, tell everybody listening how you got to Alaska.

Ruth: 2:31

So I was in my early 20s. When I came to Alaska for the very first summer. Somehow it had gotten on my radar, I was very into the wilderness and hiking into that type of lifestyle. And I had been doing, you know, some seasonal work and national parks and such. And got back in touch with a friend who actually had been coming to Alaska for the summer, like during her college career coming up in the summers to work at a fishing lodge. And I you know, we're sort of talking about it. And I was like, super excited to go check out Alaska at her, you know, like it just somehow had gotten, you know, romanticized in my mind. And so she helped me get a job where she worked, and I came for the summer and that was in 1993. So I came up and went to work at Gwynns Lodge, which is a small, kind of not fishing lodge, but like a roadhouse, I guess I would say, right on the Kenai River, which was a really big introduction in a lot of ways, because it kind of combined everything it was, you know, the fishing culture up here, the tourism industry up here. And then, you know, being like smack dab in the middle of some of, you know, the most beautiful scenery of Alaska and, you know, outdoor activity in Alaska. So that was my first summer. And I worked the whole summer stayed longer than I thought I was going to found somebody to drive me down the Alcan because I wanted to drive the Alcan and went back home for that winter with the intent that I was going to pack up all my stuff and get in my car and drive back up. And so and that's what I did that next offering with all my things in my car at that time when I owned everything I owned could fit in my car. Yes. Yes. Those are the days

Jennie Flaming: 4:26

and then you've been there ever since.

Ruth: 4:28

Yeah. So yeah. So I came back up, and I actually ended up taking the ferry, the Alaska ferry system from Bellingham, but my car on the ferry there and when I was coming up, it was like, I so you know, you Well, I'm not gonna assume anybody knows. But you know, the Alaska ferry has several stops along the way when you come north from Bellingham, the first Our first stop was in wrangle, and then, I think from Ranga, we went straight to June. No, I can't remember if we stopped somewhere else maybe catch camp but I forget. Anyway and it was at the So for people that might not know our Alaska State Capital is Juneau, Alaska, which is only accessible by plane or by boat. Right. It's disconnected from the rest of Alaska. It's not connected via road system. So I had to stop in Juneau and stay in Juneau for like, four or five days what because the legislature was getting out. And all the legislators from Alaska were like, on the ferry going back home for the summer. Right, which, of course, at the time I didn't know about but Right, right. I learned about it, but didn't understand really the significance at that time. But anyhow, it's kind of a fun little thing. So I ended up spending a week in Juneau. And then I actually took the ferry to Haines, which is where it connects to the road system. And I had a college friend who actually lived in Haines, I spent a week there, and I thought, Oh, I really love southeast. I want to stay here. But the same friend that had got me to Alaska in the first place was actually going to have a baby that summer. This, you know, the summer that I was moving up. And so I and I had promised her I would come up, you know, for that. So I continued on my journey and ended up in Girdwood. And so that's actually where I made my home for the first 10 years I lived in Alaska. Awesome.

Jennie Flaming: 6:19

Yeah. And I'm curious to how did you end up going to the airport professionally? Like, yeah, how did that happen?

Ruth: 6:31

Well, honestly, what what had happened was, you know, I have been a tourism professional working in Alaska tourism industry for like I said, like 20 years, yeah, give or take a few years here and there, and a lot of different capacities. And so I had kind of worked from being like an actual like tour guide or reservationist into kind of more of the administration marketing of tourism. However, the job that I had prior to the pandemic, was more like an a tourism development role. And of course, as we all know, when the pandemic hit, tourism came to a very swift screeching halt. Yes. And so my position actually was eliminated. And so I spent COVID, most of it just kind of picking up a little bit of contract work here and there. And then this job came available at the anchorage airport. And a big chunk of what I do here at the airport is interface and, you know, talk to and our tourism professionals here in the state, because we are the, you know, pretty much the hub to the spoke. That is Alaska, everything, you know, that happens in Alaska. A lot, you know, originates really at the anchorage airport. So, it was a natural fit. Oh, that's

Jennie Flaming: 7:50

awesome. Yeah. Cool. So before we talk, like, very specifically about Anchorage, I would love to have you share a little bit wreath about why aviation and airplanes are so crucial to Alaska's economy and to life in Alaska, kind of separate from the visitor industry, and then we'll kind of get into Anchorage, specifically. Okay.

Ruth: 8:17

Yeah. Well, you know, the, one of the most, I think the most unusual things about Alaska is, and I think a lot of, especially if folks are not as familiar with Alaska is, you know, like, they think they want to visit or, you know, they

Jennie Flaming: 8:33

kind of thought about it, but really

Ruth: 8:38

the biggest challenge with Alaska is that it's a massive state with a very small transportation infrastructure. So you know, the size of the state two and a half times the size of Texas, which people always I think, sort of think you're lying when you say that, right? Yeah. But you know, like, Oh, it's a massive state. In fact, I just had a friend from Great Britain, email me and was like, Okay, we think this year is going to be our year that we're going to come to visit and oh, yeah, okay. Okay. And the first thing I said was, okay, well, what do you want to see? Where do you want to go? And they were just like, ah, you know, I don't know. Yeah, it's a, you know, it's an intimidating place, because it is so massive, there's so much to see, there's so many national parks, you know, blah, blah, blah, like all the all the big things. So and because and we are a small population in a big state. So, you know, we rely a lot on like, federal funding for different things or infrastructure is pretty limited, because we have a small population, we can't really support the cost, you know, to really build out this massive infrastructure. Not only that we live in a very rugged state where it's extremely expensive to build roads, and to build out that infrastructure. So rounding back to why aviation is so important. You know, that's how A big chunk of the population in Alaska gets you know from point A to point B. So you know if you are living like in St. Mary's out in southwest Alaska for example, the only way you get your mail is via plane. The only way you you know you fall into Costco in Anchorage and your Costco order comes via a plane. Yeah, you want to go to town to go shop your closest town is, you know, Fairbanks or Anchorage. The only way you can get there is via a plane. Yep. So and then on top of that there, you know, just the general aviation in Alaska, the people, the number of people who own their own aircraft in the state is like it's the highest percentage in the United States. Yeah, like one out of every I don't know, eight people, I think is a pilot and Alaska, something like that. So, you know, it just plays an oversized role in overall quality of life here.

Jennie Flaming: 10:53

Yep. For sure. So, okay, the Ted Stevens anchorage International Airport, where people go if they're going through Anchorage? has, you know, there's a lot of visitors and Alaskans that travel through that airport. Yeah, it's pretty important around things like cargo and sort of the world aviation scene. So can you talk a little bit about that, like, all of that traffic that comes through the airport? Right, that isn't even related to humans directly? Right?

Ruth: 11:28

Yeah. Well, so we're considered an airport world, a medium hub. You know, our passenger numbers is about bought, like, over like, 5.5 million people come through the airport in terms of passenger, which is pretty small, really, in the scope of things. Yeah. But on the cargo side, we are number three in the world actually. Right. Currently, right. Now, we may slip that number a little bit because as COVID kind of relaxes that number ships a little bit, but got it. But because of where we're located, which, again, is sort of It's a fact that people don't really understand, I think, because we look at the Globe in a in a certain way, that doesn't really show you what the top of the world looks like. Yeah, yes. If that makes sense. But you know, we are because of where we're located in the world. We are, you know, about nine hours from 90% of the industrialized world. Which is, I think that's such a cool fact. So you know, you really

Jennie Flaming: 12:36

mind boggling, yeah, it is really, right. Yep.

Ruth: 12:40

So we are a huge crossroads for a lot of the Asian cargo that comes across and comes into the United States, most of those cargo planes stop here and refuel on their way to their final destination. Yep. And yeah, so we see about, you know, on any given day, upwards of 100 120, wide body air cargo aircraft coming in and out of Anchorage.

Jennie Flaming: 13:10

That's, that's really amazing. Yeah. Which is really remarkable. Yeah,

Ruth: 13:16

it really is. Yeah, to see those that size of a plane is pretty kind of staggering. Really. Look at it, it throws your whole perspective off, you know, when you look at like a tiny little Alaska Airlines plane, yes.

Jennie Flaming: 13:29

Yeah. Which is still like a big jet. But yes, like us massive, like sub 40 sevens that are flying across the ocean. By the way, if you're listening, and you are going to be passing through the anchorage airport, take a look around like either when you're in the terminal or when you're taxing on the plane or landing and taking off, you'll see lots of these planes that Ruth is talking about, just like hanging out on the tarmac, you know, getting fuel and clearing customs and like, all that stuff. It's it's pretty cool. And you'll look at the plane and be like, I've never heard of that company. Especially if you're at all an aviation geek, you you gotta pay attention to that one way.

Ruth: 14:16

Yeah, we are kind of a destination for av geeks to actually yeah, because of that. And also because the airport is positioned as such that we have some really good, like public access areas to take photos of planes. So we get a lot of really amazing pictures of all these massive aircraft coming and going out of here because we have this kind of cult following among the AV geeks, you know, and they like to take pictures. So

Jennie Flaming: 14:42

Ruth just a slight tangent here. Um, what are some of those places for someone who is into taking photos of planes and it's gonna be an anchorage? What are what are a couple of places that you would recommend people go to do that? Well,

Ruth: 14:56

honestly, the probably one of the best spots Is Point Worozof? Yeah. Which is this it's absolutely you know, you can you can get right you know, right off of Northern Lights, you just keep going and there's several different spots you can stop along that the road that goes out to point wears off. Yep. And it essentially runs right along our

Jennie Flaming: 15:20

gonna have to look at the number. What is that runway?

Ruth: 15:22

It's our 3315 runway. Yep, that's how we label them. But that that's where most of the landings are landings and takeoffs. Yep, for the big heavies. And, you know, so you can get some really amazing shots of these massive aircraft because they literally go like right over your head. Yes. Yeah. So it's very loud. So it's loud.

Jennie Flaming: 15:49

But cool. You can also so you can drive out there but you can also like bike out there on the National Trail from absolutely on town. So that's kind of a cool hack to is to like, get a bike ride in and like, check out some cool views in general, but including of planes landing Yeah. I'm also there often moose out there. Not not like inside the fence. Hopefully. I guess sometimes

Ruth: 16:16

they get inside the fence too. And we have to go gently escort them outside the fence again. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 16:21

That area around the outside of Airport. There is a pretty good place to see. I feel like it is no you're absolutely right along with like Kincaid Park and random neighborhoods and Costco saw that post. My friend who lives in Anchorage sent me if if you're listening, and you can go yes. If you missed it over the winter, there was, I don't know, maybe sometime in February, there was like this kind of viral photo and maybe a video to you of this woman who was like loading her. Her stuff from Costco into her car in front of Costco. And a moose came up and was like, Oh, hey, like,

Unknown: 17:09

what's in your cart?

Jennie Flaming: 17:10

Yeah, that's cool. Um, yeah. Is there anywhere else like that? I agree. That's a great spot. Ruth, is there anything else that comes to mind? Is it good location? Um,

Unknown: 17:22

well, you know, there's kind of several spots along that same road point Worozof as well. We always kind of like pinpoint, but the other so we have 210 1000 plus feet, runways which accommodate the big planes. The other one is our 733. I think it is. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure I have to look at the map. And when I get out because I'm not an operations. I'm in marketing. Yes. But that runway, occasionally, you'll get some really good shots of planes going off from the Connors bog. Yeah, to which is our really awesome dog park that we have in Anchorage, but it also gets some really nice, like right in front of it. You can get some good views of planes taking off from there too. And a lot of times, you'll see like really cool like Lear jets and different things like that, because we get a lot of celebrities and very like, you know, rich people that have really awesome planes and they usually take off off of that runway a lot. Good to know.

Jennie Flaming: 18:28

Celebrity plane spotting. Yeah. Right. If

Ruth: 18:31

you're following if you follow those type of things. Yeah, I see some for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Love

Jennie Flaming: 18:37

it. Okay. Yeah. So, okay, so we talked about, you know, a lot of people come through, but not as many as like a huge worldwide passenger hub. Huge amount of cargo third busiest cargo airport in the world. Yeah. Second thing the United States mind, but would you know what the biggest is in the US? of Memphis, Tennessee,

Unknown: 19:00

because that is the home of FedEx.

Jennie Flaming: 19:03

Aha. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense, actually.

Ruth: 19:05

But we have a huge FedEx sorting facility here too. Yeah. So I would venture to get them. The second biggest FedEx hub is us. Yes. I'm sure it would have to be right with all that international traffic and everything. Cool. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 19:24

Exactly. All right. Cool. Okay. So Ruth, we talked about all that stuff. It would be awesome to hear a little bit about Lake hood, which is also part of the airport. And I am guessing most people listening are not familiar with Lake hood or what that is. So could you share a little bit about what that is? And a little bit about why that's so unique to Alaska?

Ruth: 19:51

Sure. Yeah. So Lake hood is the suit. We're all full of these super low additives here, but It is the world's busiest sea seaplane base in the world. It is located adjacent to the Ted Stevens anchorage International Airport. And what makes like hood really unique is that it? It's year round. In the wintertime, the planes come and go on the lake with skis and in the summer on floats. And we do also have a general aviation strip as well a gravel strip. But what makes it really unique is just the amount of traffic again, kind of talking about, you know, what we touched on earlier with how aviation is so important to Alaskans in these remote regions of the state and a lot of that traffic. Both like I said, summer and winter goes out of Lake hood. So it's what is called a general aviation airport. You know, this, in this case, it's a seaplane base is what they call it. Yep. And when you say a general aviation airport versus a commercial aviation airport, which is what the Ted Stevens anchorage International is, general aviation is for folks that are, you know, it's a certain size of aircraft, and it's a lot of just owner operated aircraft, right. So, this is where that, you know, one in eight people in Alaska have their pilot's license kind of comes into play. A lot of a lot of Alaskans have recreational planes on floats that they take to their remote cabins or, you know, do flightseeing trips, you know, like for it, which is a very popular tourist activity in Alaska. Yep. All based out of Lake hood. And which is connected to the airport. It's owned and operated by the same management. Yep. So it's, yeah, it's got a nice synergy there. Yeah. And

Jennie Flaming: 21:54

if you are doing a flight scene trip for bear viewing, yeah, I'm real if it's on a float plane, which it isn't always but it often is. If you're going to and you're leaving from Anchorage, you'll be leaving from Lake hood. Yeah. For the most part. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure. There's probably some exceptions. But for the most part, yeah, up. Yeah. And also, I'm a fee. Let's see when last summer we had an episode about things to do in Anchorage, just in general. And with Tom Plowman, who's a forever resident of Anchorage, and he recommended going to the restaurant at the hotel that's next to Lake hood. Trying to remember the name of the lakefront? Yes, the lakeside hotel. And that you can either drive there, you can ride a bike there or whatever. And that that's a great place to watch planes. Yeah. Take it off and landing on Lake hood.

Ruth: 22:56

It is a great spot. Yeah, it's on the the eastern shore of the lake. And so you you see all the activities because the of the way that the lake is oriented, yeah, it's where all the all the takeoff and landings have been right in front of you there. And they have an amazing deck, of course. So in the summertime, it's a really nice place to sit in a sunny day and drink and eat and watch airplanes, watch

Jennie Flaming: 23:21

planes. Super fun. Okay, um, so going back to Ted Stevens, Anchorage International Airport, the big one, the commercial one with the giant, um, it was a little silly that we got this far without talking about who Ted Stevens was and why the airport is named for him. So I was wondering if you could just share a little bit about that race? Sure.

Ruth: 23:49

Yeah. Ted Stevens. So he, he was really pivotal in history. You know, Alaska is still a very young state and in relation to the lower 48. And so, I think also one of the cooler things about Alaska is that, you know, our history is still very right now. And when I say that, I mean, like Ted Stevens, who went through statehood was one of our senators even in the house, Alaska House of Representatives, he really paid played a really important role in the development of Alaska, you know, all the different you know, just things like oil and gas development, which has been huge here, you know, infrastructure, the Alaska railroad, you know, we hate he just really had his fingers in a lot of the, the, you know, the development of our state. Yep. And, you know, I was here, you know, he died in 2010. But that was I had been here, you know, almost 15 years by the time he died. So, you know, like, I'm touching history, basically. Right. So it's sort of that feeling with him, I think, yeah, and a lot of Alaskans really just look at him as you know, one of the godfathers of our state because of all that he contributed to it. Yeah. And, yeah, and so upon his, let's see, I'm trying to think at the time like, he, I think when he retired from the Senate, they, they'll know it was in 2000. That's right. Well, when they when we built the new concourse, so yeah, SCA Airport has the old concourse, which is our B concourse and a concourse and then the new wing, which is the C concourse, which is all the Alaska Airlines gates. Yep. So when that was built, which was in 2000. That's when the construction started anyway, they, you know, the powers that be wanted to, you know, give it a go give it his name, as you know, as Mark of his importance in the state, I guess. Yeah. So. So yeah, I recommend you know, if people are interested in Alaska history, like you do the Wikipedia on Ted Stevens, he lived a pretty fascinating life. And did you know just did so much for the state and just had such an interesting life in general? Yeah, he was in two plane crashes. The first one was in 1970. Nick killed his first wife, and it was here at this airport. Oh,

Jennie Flaming: 26:25

wow. I knew that had happened. But I didn't know it had happened at the

Ruth: 26:29

anchorage airport. Yeah, the first one. So this was in 1970. He was on AP plane crash. And then then, of course, the one that killed him when he was out in southwest. Yep. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so he's, you know, he's quintessential that way. I mean, the fact that he died in a plane crash is in and of itself, like kind of a testament to his Alaska nurse. You know,

Jennie Flaming: 26:49

right. I know. I remember. When I first heard that news. I was like, Whoa, that's really kind of interesting. You know? Yeah. Um, you know, speaking of politics, since Ted Stevens was Alaska, one of Alaska senators for so many years. It was making me think about one of the trivia questions that I asked by guests on my viewer when we have like long driving days, which is about US presidents that have visited Alaska while they run president. Ian and I, I'm actually thinking I should do a podcast episode about that, because it's kind of interesting. But anyway, one of the things that I tell them is that you can't, the I don't count presidents who only stopped at the airport on their way to or at the at the Air Force Base. That's. Yeah, that's that Elmendorf or joint base Elmendorf Richardson, which is very near the very near what we're talking about. But yeah, because basically, every president, since it's been an option to fly to Asia, has been there at least to refuel, but some have actually visited, but I'll do another episode about that.

Unknown: 28:12

In the future, let me know when you do it, I want to hear it. Okay.

Jennie Flaming: 28:15

I will. Yeah, it's a really fun and interesting, totally epic, actually. And it's cool, because you can weave in a lot of different parts of Alaska's history into that story of like, when people were making that trip and why. So yeah. All right. Well, we're gonna take a short break, and then we'll be back with Ruth from Ted Stevens anchorage International Airport.

R. Jay F: 28:44

Hi, everyone, Jay here. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. Thanks to all of you for listening. You may have noticed that Alaska uncovered does not have ads. We like to invite people as guests on our podcast who we truly believe how important experiences and knowledge to share with you. Even when we don't have guests, we value sharing our honest experiences and knowledge freely. You can help support our work to bring you accurate, entertaining episodes about Alaska travel and life by supporting us on Patreon. The link is in the show notes patreon.com/alaska uncovered, you can become a member for free or you can become a financial supporter of this podcast for $5 a month and get access to our exclusive members only podcast episodes once a month, along with our mailbag join now.

Jennie Flaming: 29:27

We are back with Ruth from the Ted Stevens anchorage International Airport and we're talking all about the airport. We've talked a lot about cargo and refueling. And we've talked about flow planes or sea planes, different places call them different things. Like good. And we talked about Senator Ted Stevens who the airport is named for. So Ruth, I would love to have you tell us a little bit about some of the interesting No and quirky things perhaps, that you might see at the anchorage airport or that maybe pass through there, or that, you know, just make it a little bit different from, you know, other big cities, especially in the US.

Ruth: 30:14

Yeah. Well, you know, I have to start with just, um, I think one of the best things about our airport is that it just really has spectacular views. You know, we are located right at the foot of the Chugach Mountains, and the airport was designed to really showcase that. So, you know, just while you're waiting for your flight, you get really incredible views of the Chugach, which are awesome. Yeah, downtown Anchorage. Yeah. But in addition, just from the, from the actual airport, depending on where you're at, you know, you can see upwards of the five, you know, mountain ranges that surround us here, which is, I think so incredibly unique, you know, honestly, yeah. Especially in the United States, you haven't you know, some of the mountainous states don't have airports that are as like close to the mountains as we are, I think, yep. And you know, being so close to the mountains, it's really easy to come to Anchorage common to Ted's, you know, to antsy here and be in the mountains in like, 15 to 20 minutes, you know, yeah, which I love as well, like, it's the ease of getting in and out is really one of the best features of our airport, I think, yeah, it's small enough that it's very easy to maneuver, you can you know, get off your plane, you get your luggage, you get your rental car, and you're out the door. And you can literally be on, you know, like at the trailhead, a flat top and do all of that within an hour and a half, which I think is pretty amazing. Super, super rad. Yeah. Yeah, it is. So that I mean, I think that's one of the most unique things about us. It's just like, kind of where we're located and, and how easy it is to get in and out of here. Which is nice. But on top of that, you know, we are still a modern airport, we have all the things which is nice. We do have like one of the more quirky things I think about Anchorage, the airport here is all our taxidermy. Yeah, that's Yeah, well, I people are always asking about it. And is, you know, it can be kind of controversial. For some people, they don't like it for southern people, you know, they find it really cool. I personally think it's sort of fun, because you really get an idea of like the diversity of wildlife that are in Alaska, based on the taxidermy we have and, and a fun fact that people don't realize is that all of that has been donated by the person who owned the taxidermy to begin with, right, like, yeah, it's really amazing how many people every year we get, you know, probably a half a dozen inquiries, like, oh, I have this like, animal artwork, sculpture, you know, that I've done in Alaska. And my family goes back, you know, since statehood, and we want to put this in the airport, you know, wow. Yeah, it happens all the time. And of course, we now have no more space for any of it. So we're always like gently having to tell people No. So

Jennie Flaming: 33:19

Ruth, are you the curator of the taxidermy, or is that someone else's job?

Unknown: 33:24

It's someone else's job. Thank goodness. Yeah. And

Jennie Flaming: 33:27

taxidermy is very Alaskan. So it is so very awesome. Oh, my gosh, yeah. Yeah, totally Alaskan. And, you know, honestly, I

Ruth: 33:37

think the most photographed place in our airport is by the moose. Influenza, the AMB, con, you know, concourses. So you can, you know, wherever you fall in the, in the world of taxidermy, most people have to take a picture with the moose. That's right there. So yes, there's that. Yep. Yeah, that's real. But we you know, we have a in the North Terminal at the anchorage airport. We have a polar bear and not terminal. We have several other different pieces out there, too. But there's a polar bear kind of in the lobby of the North Terminal. And that is probably the second most photographed. Yep, place in the airport, because people love to take their picture next to them.

Jennie Flaming: 34:22

Yeah. Cool. So

Ruth: 34:25

yeah, that's kind of I would say that that's one of our more unique, kind of quirky things. I think also, what people don't realize too, in our airport is, you know, because Alaska is such a massive state. We have regional airlines that are housed here as well as the big nationals like Alaska. Delta United American. Yep. But we also have Raven elution grant aviation ace There's a lot of smaller airlines here that access the rest of the state. And some of those flights are as long as they are, as a commercial flight would be, you know, because they're going so far. So you end up in the summer, especially in the tourism worlds, a lot of people will come off, you know, they'll come from wherever they're coming from Texas, or somewhere and they come here, and then they're going to a fishing lodge, you know, somewhere north, and they can connect, do all that connection within this airport. Yeah. So they'll get off that flight, get their luggage, and then they go down to the like L Gates, which are on the lower level, or down into Raven, which is in the a concourse, you know, and all of that is very quick, fast, easy. Boom, boom, boom, you know, and off, you're off, you're going to have, you know, a complete bush experience, you know, so yeah, I think that is also pretty unique for, you know, in terms of connected connectivity, but also just very Alaskan. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 36:04

Yes, for sure. It's really interesting to like, look at the boards for where flights are going. Yeah. And then you can probably tell that I've spent a lot of time waiting for flights at the airport, because, you know, I'll be like, Oh, I don't know where that is, and then find it on a map. And like, that's one way to pass time waiting. Another one is just to go to like, I like to walk around in the airport sometimes just to like, stretch my legs for sure. Like, and it's kind of cool to like go to see where different flights are going. And like what who is there waiting for a flight? Oh, you know, like, how many people are wearing extra tufts? If it's going into like King Salman, or do you know, um, or things like that. So it's kind of

Ruth: 36:54

yeah, that is very true. Yeah. Funny that you bring that up. I'm sure too, that you've noticed like when you go if you connect your Seattle to go to Anchorage, you know, you can always tell when you're at the Alaska game. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 37:06

My husband Jay says that if you're boarding a flight, especially to Fairbanks, but but also to Anchorage, and you know, that you that's where you enter Alaska is when you're at the cellar. That's not when you land when you take off, right? Yeah, all right. Cool. Okay, so speaking of kind of quirky, funky things about the airport. One of the things that people ask me questions a lot about, especially, like, some of my clients have been, like, very interested in, like TV reality TV about Alaska. And I admit that I am not a huge consumer of reality TV is not my favorite genre. But I really love ice air for Alaska. It's funny. I feel like a lot of people haven't heard of that one. And I'm like, okay, but it's awesome. Yeah,

Unknown: 38:07

I have to agree, honestly. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 38:10

And it's on. I mean, I have Google TV. So I get it. It's on like, the Smithsonian channel or something. So it probably depends what TV options you have. But I find it super entertaining. So I'm just curious. Ruth, Have you have you watched it? I'm not Yeah, but have just because you weren't there? Yeah,

Unknown: 38:31

we will. You know, we are where I work on my floor, like admin, you know, like the marketing communications. We're the ones that really interface with Yeah, a company that makes that show. Yeah. And so we always get invited to the premiere screening kind of things, you know, they always do a screening for us, for all the people really that work on this show. In fact, a most recent one was not that long ago, it's like maybe a month ago, maybe less, I forget. So it was fun, you know, and they're awesome. The, you know, the film crew, they follow all of our folks around and and the operations guys love it, you know, I yeah, they're like so choose to be on a TV show all the time. But just in general, they really find really interesting storylines, which I was so impressed with, you know, like, and I guess it just lends to the fact that aviation is such a big thing, you know, here, like there's a lot of airplanes there's a lot of really interesting, you know, people that fly planes and where they fly them to is really interesting. So yeah, they told us that they were cleared to start the next season that you know, every year especially in the reality TV world, you know, you whether or not you're gonna get your next season is always a question mark until it actually Decision is made. So, yes, so you folks can expect to see the next season started thing probably I think it's season either on no,

Jennie Flaming: 40:03

that sounds right. I think they're on season five. Yeah.

Unknown: 40:06

So yeah, it's an it's a unique thing too, because the anchorage airport is a state owned facility. Right? We're one of the few if maybe the only I'm not exactly sure. But airport of our size that's owned by a state not. Yeah. You know, a city or a municipality or something. Yep. And so the fact that those guys, like, got everybody on board and all their ducks in a row to be able to create that program here and base it out of, you know, Anchorage is pretty

Jennie Flaming: 40:36

cool. That's pretty cool. Yeah, one thing I really like about it is the, you mentioned, you kind of said something similar to this roof, but the, like multiple storylines that they have going, you know, there was, there's episodes or parts of episodes that really focus on law enforcement or on like, finding there was one episode where they talked about finding counterfeit goods, in customs when they were in trails, through Anchorage, or people going out to villages and trying to get flight get flights in bad weather or Air Force operations or right in the runway plowed like, you know, there's just so many different things that they focus on. It's really cool. Yeah, I highly recommend it. Yeah, it Yeah.

Unknown: 41:24

They just as an anecdote, so the Arctic winter games are happening right now. Yeah. In the mat, su Valley. And all the athletes came in on Saturday through the North Terminal. Okay. So that was busy. And yeah, so it was very busy day. It was really fun. Super fun day. But rare TV. Was there filming that? Awesome. Yeah. So they all so I'm hoping that that will all come out in a future episode, too. Yeah. Because it was fun. It's fun to watch him. Interview all the athletes and yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 41:59

it was cool. Yes. So speaking of busy days, at the airport, if somebody is arriving in Anchorage, or they are departing from Anchorage, are there any tips other than like, sort of standard airport tips? Like it's always a good idea to give yourself lots of time and that sort of thing? Are there any specific tips that you have for Anchorage that you think would be good for people to be aware of if they're passing through the airport?

Unknown: 42:36

If they're passing through the airport

Jennie Flaming: 42:38

or arriving? Yeah, really,

Unknown: 42:42

I mean, the one little like, hot tip is if you are bringing like a rental car back, or if you're, you know, like driving to the airport to pick somebody up that kind of thing. We do, like parking is limited here. We're fast, you know, we're growing out of our current facility pretty fast. And parking, of course, is always the first thing that's kind of affected. Yep. So I always tell people to just really be a thought be thoughtful about that, like, Where would I park? Or should I just park in the cell phone lot? And then come pick some, you know, that sort of thing? Yep. And then I guess if you're like, coming to the Anchorage, you know, we we have been really striving especially since COVID, to create more of a low, you know, like a local feel in the airport so that you're not, you know, running into the same things that you find anywhere else, you know, so for example, we got 40 United State Brewery, and yeah, yep, terminal last year. So that's super fun, you know, to have like, really, because they have a very unique menu and the local beer and that's cool. And we also have silver gold, which is the Fairbanks brewery. Yep. The thing silver gold has which I think is cool is they have all the microbrew and locally brewed or made alcohol you know, because we have a lot of like, interesting gin for example, they've you know, craft here as well as we have so many breweries that do amazing beer. So you can actually behind security buy some of that to take home if you want to, which is kind of cool. Yeah, um, because it's such a unique thing you know, but we also did like I said, we just we have a lot of local concessions, like literally owned by locals. We have more coming in. So hopefully to be open this summer. So we're really excited about that just you know, not be so cookie cutter. Yeah. And yeah, and so, you know, with that said, I, it would be awesome, you know, for people to keep that in mind and and make time to be here to be able to experience some of it you know, like you can literally do Shopping and some of our stores that you will not find anywhere else in Alaska with. Yeah, I

Jennie Flaming: 45:04

guess there are some great shops in there. Yeah. And they're all

Unknown: 45:08

locally owned, right. Like, yeah, that's what I'm saying. So you'll you can find some really cool stuff in the anchorage airport. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 45:14

I totally agree with that. Yeah, one, one thing that comes to my mind that I think is kind of good to mention in this episode, even though it's not really directly about airport operations, isn't it often people are like, unless they're lucky, like me to be flying from the Pacific Northwest. Almost not almost everyone, a lot of people arrive or depart kind of in the middle of the night. Right. And so one tip that I have related to that is, unless you're on the West Coast, that's hard, you know, you're either going to have a red eye when you leave Alaska, or you'll fly to Seattle during the day and then have a red eye from Seattle. So like, the only real way to avoid that is to avoid a red eye is to stay overnight in Seattle. Or at least that's the only thing I've ever seen work like for my clients. But the reason I mentioned that is because sometimes I have heard people who were like in line for security, behind me or in front of me at like, midnight. Be like, how is this busy at midnight? So I just gonna say that, like, you need to give yourself a lot of time, even if it's the middle of the night, because that is right. I don't know about you, and probably no better than me read from like a data perspective. But my experience as a traveler is that if you're arriving or departing during the day, it's really chill, but it can be really busy in the middle of the

Unknown: 46:55

journey. That is such a good point that you bring up. Yeah, I and I sort of sometimes forget, because now that I'm like, I work at the airport as well as Yeah, well, they're bored. I kind of forget it because I'm hearing you know, eight to five instead of 10 to two in the morning, which is when we are the busiest Yeah. Okay,

Jennie Flaming: 47:11

so that's not that is actual data. That's just not Yeah, absolutely.

Unknown: 47:15

Yeah, we are the very busiest from 10pm to 2am. Because of the, you know, to be able to connect to any lower 48 flight to go to your you know, wherever you live, you have to take a red eye out of Alaska. Yeah. Unless you're going to Seattle.

Jennie Flaming: 47:32

Yeah. And then front. If you're in Seattle, and you're going to anywhere, not on the West Coast, those flights are all either early in the morning or red eyes. So you know, you're kind of in that same situation again, correct? Yeah.

Unknown: 47:45

Yeah, yeah. So it is important to know that and a very, very good point that you want to give yourself a little extra time to get through security. And, you know, again, Anchorage airport is pretty small. It usually goes really quickly. Yeah, it does. And even when there's a really long line, and you would show up and be like, Oh, my goodness, it's really, you know, at the end of the day, it's only you know, 10 minutes or whatever. But fast. Yeah, but to know, just to know that ahead of time and have your expectations in the right place makes a huge difference in terms of travel. No doubt about it. Yeah, yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 48:21

And sometimes people are like, Oh, this is a smaller city. My flight is at 1am at the airport isn't going to be busy at 11am

Unknown: 48:30

very busy, it'll be Yes, it'll be a way busier than you think.

Jennie Flaming: 48:36

Okay, so brief to wrap up. I want to ask you the same three rapid fire questions that I asked everybody who comes on the podcast, so you live in Anchorage? So I'm going to ask you about an anchorage so what is your favorite month in Anchorage? My I

Unknown: 48:55

actually have two favorite months I have October and like right now in March and the reason being is that because we have so much variation in our daylight, you know, we're always gaining or losing so much daylight. Yeah, those months are the best for sunsets and I am fortunate enough to live kind of on the bluff over the water and so my, my sunsets are and my sunrises for that matter, but mostly sunsets are pretty spectacular in those months.

Jennie Flaming: 49:29

That's awesome. Love it. Yeah. Okay. Favorite restaurant.

Unknown: 49:35

My favorite restaurant in Anchorage is crush, wine Bistro, which is yeah, the actual restaurant is downtown on G Street. It's awesome. It's awesome.

Jennie Flaming: 49:46

Love it. So the final rate of delicious. Oh, yeah. And then finally, what's your favorite thing to do and encourage on your My

Unknown: 49:55

most in Anchorage? Let's see. Well, you know, like I mentioned we're right up against the Chugach. So, um, you know, dog walking can be an pretty epic thing here, honestly. So the epic dog mom thing and comes from all the epic exercise, I get my dog so I do really enjoy being able to just, you know, get my car and drove up the mountain or to the parking lot, you know and get on a trail. Yeah, hiking, biking, you know? Yeah, all of that is right outside my door. So I always feel really fortunate for that. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 50:32

Love it. Ruth, thank you so much for coming on the pod for talking about the airport sharing about Anchorage. It was absolutely wonderful. It has been

Unknown: 50:41

my true pleasure. So much fun. So much fun. Yeah, I hope everybody gets a little nugget of wisdom somewhere along liberal line and come see us.

Jennie Flaming: 50:50

Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. Okay,

Unknown: 50:54

thank you, Jennie. Take care.

Jennie Flaming: 50:56

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