Shell's Falcon 7X lands in Anchorage after Gastech, as energy giant digests its $16.5bn Canada bet

The Anchorage stopover comes just weeks after Shell closed its roughly $16.5 billion acquisition of Canada's ARC Resources on September 2, 2026, as covered by Kalkine. The deal adds 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day — predominantly natural gas and associated liquids — and more than 1.5 million net acres in the Montney Basin, feeding Shell's 40%-owned LNG Canada terminal at Kitimat. Should the aircraft have continued from Alaska into Canada, it would arrive as the company begins integrating those assets and eyeing a potential expansion of the Kitimat facility.

Shell's corporate aviation arm, Shell Aircraft International, operates two Dassault Falcons registered in the Cayman Islands — VQ-BXH and VQ-BXF. Recent tracked flights show the 7X shuttling between London Luton, Rotterdam The Hague, and Bou Saada in Algeria before heading to Bangkok earlier in September. The pattern reflects a global energy major whose executives move between European headquarters, Middle Eastern production sites, and now a newly expanded North American gas position. Whether this particular trip included a detour to the Montney or simply a fuel stop on the way back to Rotterdam, the flight log tells a story of a company in motion — and a business strategy tilting heavily toward gas. That, at least, is something the aircraft's transponder can confirm.