The Nation - News from Feb. 7, 1989

Jet fuel supplies at Anchorage International Airport dwindled to such precariously low levels that a military pipeline was used to resupply the airport, officials said. Fuel supplies at the airport, a major refueling stop for over-the-pole flights between Europe and Asia, became low because a fuel barge was unable to get through thick ice at the Port of Anchorage, airport operations manager Larry Michou said. This represents the first time the military fuel pipeline was transformed into a supply-line for the airport’s commercial jet traffic, said Ft. Richardson Army Post commanders and officials at Butler Aviation, the airport’s main fuel company, which Sunday night was down to three days of fuel instead of the usual nine or 10 days’ supply.