Alaska’s major airports in Anchorage and Fairbanks are on track to set a new annual passenger record, following a busy first half of the year. That’s according to a report from the Alaska International Airport System, an enterprise fund under the state transportation department.
The peak season for travel to Alaska tends to be between May and September, said Lex Yelverton, a spokesperson for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.“We remain on track to potentially set a new passenger record, but there are still several months left in the year,” she said. “We'll continue watching the numbers closely.”
Anchorage and Fairbanks international airports handled more than 3.2 million passengers during the first six months of the year, according to the report, a 7% increase compared to the same period in 2025.
The growth has been driven by new airline service and increased seat capacity, according to the report. Southwest Airlines began flying to Alaska this summer and several other airlines introduced new routes.
Yelverton said July set a separate record: It was the busiest month ever recorded at Fairbanks and Anchorage airports, with nearly 460,000 passengers passing through.
“We're encouraged by the momentum we're seeing, and our focus going into 2027 is on sustaining it,” Yelverton said.
Millions of visitors come to Alaska each year, largely by cruise.
The airports also saw an 11% jump in the amount of cargo they handled during the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. The Anchorage airport is the third-busiest cargo airport in the world and had already handled nearly two million metric tons of cargo by June.
The report says the Anchorage facility handled more than 3.85 million metric tons of cargo in 2025. The Fairbanks facility had moved nearly three times more cargo in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2025.
