pancakes

are there passenger flights that currently make re-fueling stop in Anchorage?
(intercontinental flights between Asia/Europe/America)

Thanks!

MW147

Maybe China Airlines flight from JFK??

I remember making stops 2 or 3 times on NW17 from JFK to NRT on 747-200, before the days of the 747-400. But they never let us off the plane.

B747-437B

At the time of your post (1924Z), there were no pax flights on ground at ANC making a refuelling stop. CX 828 departed from ANC at 1832Z after a refuelling stop on the HKG-ANC-YYZ route, so 52 minutes prior to your post.

N830MH

Yes, that's correct! Because several airlines stopover in ANC to get refuel the planes before continuation flights from USA. Because CX has tech stop in ANC due to headwinds. I would assuming that I knew which specific airlines stopover in ANC to get refueling.

Insiderdude

Doesn't AC also do a ANC tech stop from HKG-YYZ or is that just CX?

DownUnderFlyer

AFAIK AC016 does not stop in ANC or anywhere else for that matter.

joejones

I believe CI also stops in ANC, on the TPE-JFK route.

theblakefish

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...

Bobster

There are still restrictions. But it's not the Soviet Union, it's the United States.

In August, 2003, the Sovi ... er ... I mean the U.S. suspended the Transit Without Visa program. CX changed their tech stop to Vancouver to avoid the hassle. In 2004 they were granted an exception and resumed the ANC stops, but nobody can get off the plane other than crew.

MegatopLover

KAL 007, downed by the Soviets in 1983, indeed had tech-stopped in Anchorage. I think the flight originated in New York. IIRC, a computer glitch caused the on-board navigation computers to allow the aircraft to stray too close to the Kamchatka Peninsula, restricted airspace in those days, without the pilots' knowledge (the computer was telling them they were fine, off the coast in permitted airspace). The Soviets mistook the KAL aircraft for an American spy plane that had been operating in the area. Nowadays, Korean Air and plenty of others fly right into Siberia and China--on authorized pathways. The aircraft operating transpac routes have longer range now than they did in 1983, of course, and the ability to overfly formerly restricted airspace in Siberia and China surely makes it possible for many routes that once required tech-stops in Anchorage to go nonstop. East Coast USA to Tokyo and Seoul come to mind. Flying ATL-ICN on a KE 747 recently over some absolutely spectacular territory in extreme Northeast Siberia and Kamchatka definitely brought to mind the tragic fate of KAL 007 nearly 25 years ago. As we approached Korea over mainland China, we followed a very unusual route looping behind North Korea and approaching Incheon from the west, surely because North Korea forbids overflights. The more things change....

A number of cargo flights stop at Anchorage because they are flying routes that still cannot go nonstop. For example, I tracked a package on FedEx that routed from Clark Freeport in the Philippines to Anchorage to Memphis. For them, I guess it's still convenient to tech-stop at ANC.

Richard Chen

I anxiously await whether airlines return to this refueling stop. So far, no news beyond ANC getting inquiries.

jrl767

there were/are a number of conspiracy theories about this incident, iirc mainly related to the Air Force EC-135 (“spy plane”) gathering signals intelligence (target acquisition and tracking data) on the Russian air defense system radars

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that FedEx and UPS and Kalitta (and likely others) also do crew changes at ANC

ft101

If you've waited 15 years since the previous post on this thread another few won't make much difference.

obscure2k

Closing this 15 year old thread
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator