ANC Hopeful Of Reopening After Massive Clean-Up

Volcanic eruptions from Alaska's Mount Redoubt over the past week have sent ash plumes as high as 65,000 feet and disrupted activity at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), causing numerous cargo flights to divert to Sea-Tac (SEA) for refueling.

According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports, Sea-Tac senior cargo manager Tom Green said that although the influx has tripled the airport's normal level of cargo plane traffic, it's not causing a problem. "Most of the time these cargo operations don't come at peak passenger operating times," Green said. "We place a huge priority on passenger operations. It's more than likely that if we couldn't accommodate everybody, we'd prioritize passengers."

Most of the flights have been Boeing 747s enroute from Asia to eastern US destinations, and have stopped at Sea-Tac just for refueling - meaning that the airport isn't handling any extra cargo. Green said some of the flights have even been parked at unoccupied gates to refuel, but only when necessary. "We're taking advantage of spare space all across the airfield," he said, adding "we're not bursting at the seams."

An Alaska DOT spokesperson was hopeful that Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport might be able to reopen Sunday following a massive clean-up effort. Christine Klein, deputy commissioner for aviation of the Alaska Department of Transportation, said work crews used snow to help in the process. Spreading it on runways, the snow was left to soak up the ash and then crews removed the muddy mixture. "It's kind of like brownie mix, or cake-mix batter," Klein said. The process took nearly 14 hours.

The Seattle Times reports an Alaska Airlines spokesman said it was possible the carrier's 4 pm flight from Seattle to Anchorage would depart on schedule Sunday afternoon, provided the clean-up was completed and ANC had reopened. Since Mt. Redoubt began its latest series of eruptions, Alaska Airlines has cancelled 215 flights, affecting over 10,000 travelers.

FMI: www.seatac.org, www.dot.state.ak.us/anc, www.anchorageairport.com, www.alaskaair.com