ABSTRACT This empirical essay observes the factors that contribute to the expansion or contraction in the size of Ted Stevens International Airport, located in Anchorage, Alaska. The purpose of this empirical is to identify the leading contributing factors that affect the airport’s size. Changes in the size of the airport are regressed over data compiled on categories such as passengers, local measures of income and population, and Consumer Price Index. All information contributed to the regression are taken from quarterly reports submitted from the year 1993 through 2009. Background Information Ted Stevens International Airport, named after the late former US senator Ted Stevens, is located in Anchorage, Alaska, which is the largest city of the state. While there are many other smaller airport used for private air transportation within the state, Ted Stevens is one of only two airports that flies commercially between Alaska and the rest of the continental United States (Hawaii is also included) and is the only Airport that makes frequent flights internationally. There are two separate terminals within the airport’s physical location that provide service to 15 separate air carriers. The Anchorage hub moves over 5 million passengers each year and is also the 5th busiest airport in the world for cargo transportation. In this empirical essay, we regress the different factors that contribute to the expansion of Ted Stevens because many competing airlines, or sometimes even start-up airlines, need to know statistical predictions of how the airport is expanding and what areas are contributing to the expansion or contraction. This information is needed by the airlines so they can assess if it is worth flying the distance to Alaska. If the number of passengers connecting through Anchorage is decreasing over time, then some airlines might decide to not renew their contract. Regardless of if the airport is contracting or expanding, Ted Stevens International airport is, without a doubt, one of the most highly valued assets in the world when it comes to transporting and refueling planes as they venture from continent to continent. Conceptual Model When it comes to traveling in Alaska, there is no surprise that the summer days are more active than the other months of the calendar year. There are many reasons for this, and most of them stem from Alaska’s seasonally booming tourist sector. Many tourists visit Alaska during the summer because it is the only time it is comfortable to view sites and travel around the state to gaze upon it’s serene landscape. During the winter, temperatures commonly reach the negative digits, which can be halting to most travelers. Fishing and hunting are also major attractions during the tourist season, fishing alone is one of Alaska’s biggest industries economically. Commercial fishermen and sports fishermen alike test their hands in the cold rivers during the short three-month season during the summer. As far as passengers traveling through the Ted Stevens International Airport goes, all of these factors are key variables and help explain the statistical fluctuations that take place through out the separate quarterly periods of the year. Data compiled on passenger travel through the airport show tendencies of higher pass through as the summer months approach, and then a taper towards lower numbers as fall and winter seasons are felt. As the y