Alaska Airlines Celebrates Airport of the Future in Anchorage

Alaska Airlines today celebrated the grand opening of its state-of-the-art passenger concourse designed to expedite passengers through Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The new Concourse C features a layout — unique in the industry — for the airline’s two-step check-in process. The layout virtually eliminates the conventional check-in counter. It is designed so that Alaska Airlines’ passengers can move swiftly to security and on to their gate to board their flights. All of Concourse C’s nine gates will be operated exclusively by Alaska Airlines.

"I am extremely proud of our staff for designing this process themselves," said Vice President, Customer Services Ed White. "Passengers will discover they can move through this system much faster providing them with much more control over their airport experience. This is the wave of the future for moving people through an airport."

The two-step process begins either at home, where the passenger checks-in on line and prints out the boarding pass, or does the same at the airport using an Instant Travel Machine (ITM). In the second step, the passenger takes the boarding pass to the nearby bag check location where the agent scans in the boarding pass, the luggage tags are printed and attached to the passenger’s luggage. The passenger then heads off to security.

A small, staffed service counter is available for those passengers who require the assistance of a customer service agent.

Alaska Airlines invested $12 million in the new concourse to introduce improvements in equipment and design all aimed at simplifying the check-in process. The new self-service ITMs, for example, have passport-reading capability. At all Concourse C gates, Alaska Airlines’ passengers will be able to view large, easy-to-read plasma screens that provide information not only on flight number and time, but also a weather report at the destination city, onboard food service information and an explanation for any change in the status of the flight.

A large new Alaska Airlines Board Room — the carrier’s membership lounge — is available on Concourse C, double the size of the current Board Room. The new concourse includes the airport’s first moving sidewalk, nearly 1,000 feet long, and new baggage belts more than one mile in length.

At official ceremonies to dedicate the new concourse, Cliff Argue, staff vice president, airport affairs, for Alaska Airlines, complimented Gov. Frank Murkowski, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, U.S. Rep. Don Young and Airport Director Mort Plumb for their leadership in the development of the new concourse. Argue also recognized U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta for his strong support of the project.

"This new Concourse C is of special significance to Alaska Airlines," Argue said. "We are very excited about occupying this facility and the opportunities it will provide us to better serve you and everyone who travels on Alaska Airlines to, from and through Anchorage."

Alaska and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, together serve 80 cities in Alaska, the Lower 48, Canada and Mexico. For reservations visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines Newsroom on the Internet at http://newsroom.alaskaair.com/ .

SOURCE: Alaska Airlines