Editor’s note: The following editorial concerning a new hangar and office building planned by Alaska Airlines appeared in this space on Nov. 5, 1959.

As we recognize the 50th anniversary of President Dwight Eisenhower’s signing of the Alaska statehood proclamation on Jan. 3, 1959, the Daily News-Miner is reprinting a sampling of its statehood-related editorials from that era.

Alaska Airlines’ announcement today that it will soon invite bids for construction of a new hangar and office building at Fairbanks International Airport is news of major importance for the people of Fairbanks.

The development will bring 60 additional employees of Alaska Airlines to this city. It will make Fairbanks the nerve center for Alaska Airlines operations in the 49th state. It will provide hangar space for jets as well as smaller aircraft. It will provide facilities for servicing planes of the trans-polar airlines.

A large amount of new office space will be opened up for the use of Alaska Airlines and other carriers.

Construction of a building costing more than

$2 million will provide a good number of jobs during the 1960 construction period. It will give Fairbanks an airways operations center which can be classed as the finest in Alaska.

The facilities being provided will no doubt result in a second look at Fairbanks by a number of global airlines now centered elsewhere in Alaska. And it will mean that new airlines beginning over-the-pole Europe-Orient flights for the first time will find Fairbanks a more attractive spot than ever to center their operations.

Coupled with weather and terrain advantages, such developments as this can have a strong influence on the role Fairbanks is destined to play in the jet age.

Alaska Airlines has shown real foresight in moving ahead with this project at a time when the need for it is not so pressing as will be true some months in the future. This foresight — and faith in Fairbanks as an Alaskan aviation hub, not only for continental but also for global flights — reflects this major airlines’ careful planning for tomorrow’s needs.

In every respect, the project demonstrates that Alaska Airlines is looking forward with confidence and planning carefully for the arrival of the jet age in Alaska. That age will dawn in only a few months. Today’s announcement is proof that Alaska Airlines will not be caught unprepared.