I recently transited ANC on a MR, and I asked one of the shop attendants about this very thing. She replied that she has worked there for 20+ years, and once the Cold War thawed, that a lot of the TrensPac flights stopped coming to ANC to refuel because they could now overfly Russia and China. She said that -- up until the late 1980's -- almost all flights to Japan, Taiwan, HKG, etc. stopped there due to flight paths not being the most effecient at the time.

Wasn't that Korean Air flight that the Soviets shot down coming from ANC?

Anyways, witht he loosening of flight path restrictions, that airport does not see the plethora of pax flights stopping there anymore. I was doing a quick turnaround, in the CO terminal, and it was really old and funky, with one dty-free store that catered almost exclusively to the Cathay flight to HKG (the only one left, I think). However, I saw at least 5 747's idling on the tarmac while getting refueled. Guess they have more leeway without pax -- but I wonder why cargo must stop but pax can go on without refueling? Interesting...