---
title: "ANC is which airport? Anchorage"
description: "ANC is Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, United States. Where the code comes from, and the codes it gets mixed up with."
url: https://atoneplace.net/airport/anc/
site: "At One Place"
---

# What airport is ANC?

**ANC is: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport**

Anchorage, United States

## Why the code is ANC

The first three letters of Anchorage.

The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.

## The airport

- **IATA code:** ANC
- **ICAO code:** PANC
- **Airport:** Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
- **City:** Anchorage, United States
- **Code origin:** Documented

Anchorage handles an extraordinary volume of air cargo for a city of under 300,000 people, because it is within nine and a half hours of nearly every industrial centre in the northern hemisphere — a freighter can reach Asia, Europe or the US mainland from here without a second stop. Most of the aircraft on the ground at any moment are carrying no passengers at all.

## The other code, PANC

Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, ANC, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, PANC, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why PANC looks nothing like ANC.

## Common questions

### What airport is ANC?

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, in Anchorage, United States.

### Why is Anchorage's airport called ANC?

The first three letters of Anchorage.

### What is the difference between ANC and PANC?

ANC is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. PANC is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.

## Related pages

- [United States](https://atoneplace.net/country/united-states/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [Airport codes in United States](https://atoneplace.net/airport/in/united-states/)
- [What airport is JFK?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/jfk/)
- [What airport is LAX?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/lax/)
- [What airport is ORD?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/ord/)
- [What airport is ATL?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/atl/)
- [What airport is MCO?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/mco/)
- [What airport is DFW?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/dfw/)
- [What airport is EWR?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/ewr/)
- [What airport is SFO?](https://atoneplace.net/airport/sfo/)

## Sources

- OurAirports — OurAirports (https://ourairports.com/data/) [Public domain]