Merrill Field Guide

Merrill Field is a general aviation airport about 1.6 km east of downtown Anchorage. The Municipality of Anchorage runs it as an enterprise activity. It opened in 1930 as Anchorage Aviation Field and was the city's only airport until Ted Stevens Anchorage International opened in 1951. It is named for Russel Hyde Merrill, an Alaskan aviator who disappeared in 1929.

The field covers 436 acres and handles small aircraft, with a weight limit of 12,500 pounds. It has three runways: an asphalt main runway of about 4,000 feet, a shorter asphalt crosswind runway and a gravel strip that also serves ski planes. Roughly 850 aircraft are based here, and the city counted 144,892 operations in 2010. Dozens of aviation businesses lease land on the field, including flight schools, air taxis and maintenance shops.

There is no passenger terminal. Air taxi operators fly from the field to small villages in Southcentral Alaska, and Crowley Fuels and Spernak Airways provide fuel and ground services. Merrill Field acts as the reliever to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport for light aircraft.