Early planes like the 707 could not make it all the way to Asia in one go, so the stop in ANC was necessary. It's the largest airport for hundreds of miles in a

Early planes like the 707 could not make it all the way to Asia in one go, so the stop in ANC was necessary. It's the largest airport for hundreds of miles in any direction. That route also goes through the PRC which was closed for a few decades to outside airplanes as well. And some of the other countries on the map were part of the USSR as well.