Biden’s plane refuels in Anchorage on way back to Washington after trip to Asia

Updated: May 25, 2022 Published: May 24, 2022

A Boeing C-32A VIP transport airplane passes cranes at the Alaska Marine Lines dock as it makes a final approach to land at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

President Joe Biden’s plane touched down at a military base in Anchorage on Tuesday morning on his return from diplomatic meetings with Asia-Pacific partners.

Temporary flight restrictions were in place for the airspace around Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson through 1 p.m. Alaska time.

At around 9 a.m., two Boeing C-32A VIP transport planes landed at JBER a few minutes apart.

A Boeing C-32A VIP transport airplane passes equipment loaded on a barge at the Alaska Marine Lines dock as it makes a final approach to land at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. President Joe Biden returned today from a trip to South Korea, where he met President Yoon Suk Yeol, and most recently Japan, where he met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Biden previously passed through Alaska on Friday on his way to South Korea, where he met President Yoon Suk Yeol. He later traveled to Japan, where he met at Tokyo’s Kantei Palace with leaders from that country, as well as the prime ministers of Australia and India. The four nations are part of a new group referred to as the Quad, a partnership within the White House’s newly launched Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity.

It was Biden’s first visit to Asia since becoming president.

Biden returned to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening.

Zachariah Hughes

Zachariah Hughes covers Anchorage government, the military, dog mushing, subsistence issues and general assignments for the Anchorage Daily News. He also helps produce the ADN's weekly politics podcast. Prior to joining the ADN, he worked in Alaska’s public radio network, and got his start in journalism at KNOM in Nome.