Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson speaks on May 25, 2022, at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has resigned as manager of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport less than eight months after he was appointed to run the fourth-largest cargo airport in the world.
“Airport Manager Dave Bronson has announced his resignation from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) for personal reasons, with September 2 as his final day of service. Departing in good standing, we appreciated Mr. Bronson’s contributions to ANC, and extend our best wishes as he begins his next chapter,” said Lex Yelverton, the airport’s communications and PR specialist.
Yelverton said the airport’s division operations manager will work as the acting manager while the position is vacant.
Bronson did not immediately return a phone call or text message seeking comment on his resignation. He told the Anchorage Daily News that it was “time to move along” and “it’s hunting season.”
Bronson has occasionally been mentioned on social media as a possible candidate for governor in next year’s statewide elections.
Incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. With a little over 11 months remaining before the primary election, 10 candidates have already filed documents indicating they intend to campaign for the office. Nine are Republicans.
The airport director’s job is a political appointment by the office of the governor, Yelverton said.
Bronson, a Republican, was elected Anchorage’s mayor in 2021, months after the incumbent Democratic mayor resigned during a sex scandal and amid a conservative backlash to COVID-19 prevention efforts by the city.
One of the leaders of that opposition movement, conservative activist Bernadette Wilson, has already declared her candidacy for governor.
During Bronson’s term as Anchorage mayor, he was accused by city employees, including some of his own hires, of mismanagement and unethical behavior.
Bronson ran for re-election in 2024 but was defeated by independent candidate and current Mayor Suzanne LaFrance.
Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan endorsed Bronson’s candidacy for re-election.
Before working as mayor, Bronson was a commercial airline pilot, an officer in the Alaska Air National Guard, and served in the U.S. Air Force.
At the time of Bronson’s selection for the airport job, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Commissioner Ryan Anderson said Bronson’s “blend of hands-on aviation expertise and public sector experience is an asset to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.”
The Ted Stevens airport, thanks to its location as a refueling stop on transpacific cargo flights, has been one of the busiest cargo airports in the world for almost a decade.
In rankings published July 8 by the Airports Council International, it was the No. 4 cargo airport in the world and the second-busiest in the United States by cargo volume, with 3.7 million metric tons of cargo shipped, only slightly behind Memphis (3.75 million tons) and Shanghai (3.78 million tons). Hong Kong, with 4.9 million tons of cargo shipped, is the No. 1 cargo airport in the world.
The ACI statistics show Anchorage cargo traffic grew 9.4% from 2023 to 2024.
That growth may have slowed — it predates the imposition of international tariffs by President Donald Trump and his administration’s decision to end the de minimis tariff exemption, which allowed packages worth less than $800 to be shipped to the United States without an import tax.
That exemption had applied to much of the cargo shipped through Ted Stevens, and its expiration could reduce cargo demand.
