Stopping all incoming and outgoing aircraft at these airports can cause extensive delays and cancellations,
Thereby upsetting the international supply chain, and have an impact on the whole nation. Not only passenger flights would be affected;
Hundreds of aircraft travel over Anchorage and Fairbanks every day. With more than 8,000 cargo flights per month, ANC is the fourth-busiest cargo airport globally.
The ANC was shut down for 20 hours during the 1992 eruption of Mount Spurr, when a cloud of ash lingered above Anchorage.
It eventually settled an eighth of an inch thick throughout the city after darkening the sky in the middle of the day.
