Here's a press release I got by email from the Anchorage Airport today. My comments are below.
Cargo Ranking: Up one spot to #5 in the world, remains #2 in the US
(ANCHORAGE, AK) — Airport Council International (ACI) released its Annual World Airport Traffic Report yesterday with 2017 numbers. Last year, more than 2.7 million tonnes of cargo transited through the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Airport Manager, Jim Szczesniak said, “The airport remains a substantial part of the world air cargo system, that’s good for Anchorage and good for the State. We continue to promote our strategic location, and the synergies that Anchorage can provide in air cargo transfer, e-commerce distribution centers, major and minor aircraft maintenance and repair, and aircraft parts warehousing. This all translates to good paying jobs for Alaskans.”
Anchorage Airport is located on transpolar flight routes between Asia, North America and Latin America.
Total cargo volumes handled by airports experienced a record increase of 7.7 percent from the previous year.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is less than 9.5 hours from 90 percent of the industrialized world and serves more than 5 million passengers annually. The airport accounts for 1 in 10 jobs in Anchorage, accounting for more than 15,000 jobs in Anchorage and a $1 billion in earnings.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 239 airports, 10 ferries serving 35 communities, more than 5,600 miles of highway and 731 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.” [emphasis added.]
Let's look at the wording.
We are told in the headline and first paragraph that ANC went up one spot in the world rankings in 2017 and that we increased by more than 2.7 million tonnes of cargo.
The every next paragraph begins by mentioning Airport Manager Jim Szczesniak. I would suggest that the placing of his name like that would imply that he should take credit for this increase. But I'd note that Szczesniak's appointment as the Anchorage Airport manager came in January 2018. So he had nothing to do with the 2017 increase. It might have been nice to give former airport manager John Parrott credit. But then Parrott was asked to leave by the governor last October for undisclosed reasons.
But I'd also note things that the article doesn't mention:
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| If you click on it you'll be able to read it better. Or go to the original here. |
The press release tells us that world-wide air cargo increased by 7.7%. It doesn't tell us (but the chart does) that Anchorage increased only by 6.7%. In fact, of the top 10 airports internationally, Anchorage's increase was the 7th highest, or fourth from the bottom. Of course, to be fair, the less you have to start in actual quantity, the easier it is to get a higher percentage increase. But then again airports #1 (Hong Kong) and #3 (Shanghai) increased by 9.4% and 11.2% respectively.
The Airports Council International's press release, on which the Anchorage Airport press release is based, also tells us that the biggest growth in passengers and cargo comes from Asia. So, in some ways Anchorage's growth is due to our lucky global location equidistant between Asia, Europe, and Eastern US. (The press release doesn't mention Europe, but does mention Latin America which didn't used to be in the airport's publicity.)
International passenger service via Anchorage is way down (since 1990) due to planes that fly longer distances and passengers who want to get wherever they are going faster. (It was great for Anchorage residents who could fly directly to Europe and Asia.) But freight fleets would rather carry more paying cargo weight than fuel weight, so a stop in Anchorage lets them carry more cargo and less fuel and then pick up more fuel in Anchorage. And credit must be given to the airport for being ready to take on more traffic.
I understand that the purpose of the press release is to make their organization look as good as possible. But it's also the role of journalists to point out what they don't say. On that count, I'd like to also note how the press release talks about all the jobs the airport provides. It doesn't talk about all the noise Anchorage residents had to endure this summer and the even more noise they will have to endure next summer. It also doesn't talk about all the pollution that is added to Anchorage's air and water. (I found lots of interesting information and you can easily find studies that downplay the amount of air pollution But check the dates of the studies. And who did them.)
The noise Steve is for a limited amount of time, in an earlier post you alluded to the cost of the noise. So as U S Grant would say ‘what is the butchers bill’? How much has it cost, we have had several months of this you talked about emergency room visits, lost work so where are your numbers? One could argue that the increase in the freight carried is being carried on existing flights.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why do you give a pass to passenger airlines? Every summer Anchorage adds many fights to accommodate tourists, again I would guess they would be more in total that any cargo flights added. They pollute just as much. Its seems like an incredible first world problem, a little noise during the summer from a limited amount of planes. Out of the 175 takes offs, they are all not jets and all the jets are not cargo planes.
oliver