NorthLink’s Air Cargo Terminal Moves Forward with Tax Incentive Approval
NorthLink Aviation’s new airport terminal will include 130,000 square feet of warehouse and office space and fifteen hardstands for airplane parking.
Photo Credit: MCG Explore Design
A ten-year tax break the Anchorage Assembly approved May 6 is key to making NorthLink Aviation’s new air cargo facility project viable, even as tariffs and changes to regulations around ecommerce imports create uncertainty in the air cargo market. Construction of the facility at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) is expected to begin this year and wrap up in 2027.
Tax Break on Buildings
The tax break applies specifically to buildings NorthLink is adding to ANC’s South Campus. The land will remain taxable.
“The ten-year property tax abatement is very important for a company like NorthLink because the abatement makes our project viable,” says CEO Sean Dolan. “The property tax abatement is one of several key gating items for NorthLink.”
One of the greatest challenges a business faces, Dolan observes, is the potential property tax bill on improvements (infrastructure) and personal property (the equipment used for operations), which can dwarf other expenses like lease payments, labor, and insurance.
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The new NorthLink terminal will include fifteen hardstands, about 90,000 square feet of warehousing, and 40,000 square feet of office space. The company is also providing subsidized onsite childcare for all terminal workers, regardless of their employer.
With approval of the tax incentive by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, NorthLink is positioned to move forward with the development. According to Dolan, the project is fully permitted, and the company is in active commercial discussions with leading cargo carriers on their needs in Anchorage. NorthLink has signed customer contracts with Cathay Pacific Airways and National Air Cargo.
Tariff Uncertainty
“Unfortunately,” Dolan adds, “the recent implementation of tariffs and changes in rules related to ecommerce imports have created a lot of uncertainty in the air cargo market.”
Higher tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada—three of Alaska’s main international trading partners—have had a significant impact on the state’s air cargo market. As the US raises tariffs on imports, other countries have retaliated in kind; earlier this year, China announced an increase on seafood product import tariffs in response to tariffs levied on its US-bound goods. For Alaska, the higher tariff on seafood exported to China is consequential: According to a February 1, 2025 Alaska Beacon article, in 2023 Alaska exported $1.2 billion in goods to China, more than half of which consisted of seafood.
Even as the state weathers uncertainty around the impact of higher tariffs on imports and exports, NorthLink’s new air cargo hub has the potential to open opportunities for air cargo to move into and out of the state.
Positioning Anchorage for Growth
In addition to the critical infrastructure the company is building, NorthLink is also working with stakeholders to provide the regulatory support and technology necessary to establish Anchorage as a logistics hub not just for big players such as FedEx and UPS but for other air carriers, forwarders, and shippers. The aim is to bolster Anchorage as a first port of entry into the US and as an export hub for items like high-value Alaska seafood.
“FedEx and UPS have been using [ANC] for this for decades. Now is the time to allow other cargo carriers, representing over 28,000 widebody freighter flights in 2024, to be able to do the same,” Dolan says.
NorthLink says construction of the cargo terminal will involve hundreds of jobs in Anchorage and, once the terminal is operational, sustain about 300 jobs year-round.
The company is also focused on the environmental impact of deicing at the airport. In the winter of 2023 to 2024, Dolan says, 1.2 million gallons of propylene glycol, the main component of deicing fluid, was discharged directly into neighboring waterbodies.
“This is not great for the environment and is a waste of money,” he says.
NorthLink is working with several stakeholders to determine the best way to recover and recycle the deicing fluid for the entire airport.
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