Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the major airport in the United States state of Alaska and is located four miles (6.4 km) southwest of downtown Anchorage. Named after current and long-standing U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, it is Alaska Airlines' second-largest hub, after Seattle. It is also a major cargo hub and, as of 2005, ranks as the world's third-busiest airport by cargo traffic, after Memphis and Hong Kong. The majority of passenger flight operations are on Alaska Airlines to and from Seattle (an average of 20 flights per day) and Fairbanks (an average of 13 flights per day).

Anchorage was a common stopover for passengers flying to East Asia from the 1960s to the 1980s because U.S. and Western European aircraft could not fly over Soviet airspace, and because they did not have the range that modern-day aircraft have. Today, many cargo carriers continue to use Anchorage. Some passenger aircraft still stop at Anchorage on flights between Asia and the eastern United States.

FedEx and UPS operate major hubs at Anchorage International for cargo heading to and from the Far East. NWA Cargo also operates a major hub at the airport. FedEx's is the largest and can handle as many as 13,400 packages per hour, employing more than 1,200 people and providing a full customs clearance system. UPS's hub handles about 5,000 parcels per hour. Both companies forecast a large growth in traffic over the next several years as trade with China and other Far East countries increases and plan to expand their Anchorage facilities comparatively. The United States Postal Service also operates a large sectional center facility for the 995xx ZIP codes. It processes mail and parcels headed to and from all Alaska cities.