I'll jump in....this info is probably covered elsewhere but here goes...

No residency requirement/US Passport any longer. Latest FOM revision was to "current passport", not US passport. To me that implies green card types can be employed here. QC that with pilot recruitment--I am not on their speed dial and choose to leave them alone.

Anchorage has been rumored gone since before I got hired in 2002. Even with the 777 its still here. Look at the ramp and many days you see more 777s than MD11s. I seem to remember from either captain's class or a recurrent some mgt type pointing out that getting goods from Asia could at times move faster through ANC because it cleared customs quickly and from ANC could then go to the big east coast markets smoothly and swiftly. In other words--it was quicker overall for the packages to stop in ANC than to fly non-stop to EWR or IND. In any case, there are a lot of tradeoffs with lift/fuel and so far we still seem to do a lot of stopping in ANC.

Additionally, Alaska has TWO senators and 1 representative for a state with a very small population. Providing good jobs outside the oil industry is pretty good for Alaska, so Is suspect it also good for FedEx in having some friends on the hill. Lots more to consider than just how far a 777 can fly unrefueled...

One of our pilots is not the State Senator for the Wasilla area and is an ANC based MD-11 FO. I suspect he could probably give you an idea of the impact FedEx has on the Anchorage economy...