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<tr><td colspan="3" style="text-align: center; background-color: #FFFFFF;">Image:Alaska Airlines Logo.svg</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Seattle-Tacoma Int'l Airport
Ted Stevens Int'l Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Focus cities / secondary hubs</th><td>Portland International Airport
Los Angeles Int'l Airport
Vancouver International Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Frequent flyer program</th><td>Mileage Plan</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Member lounge</th><td>Board Room</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Parent company</th><td>Alaska Air Group</td></tr>

Alaska Airlines
IATA AS	ICAO ASA	Callsign Alaska
Founded		1932 (as McGee Airways)
Fleet size		114
Destinations		59
Headquarters		Seattle, Washington
Key people		William "Bill" Ayer(CEO)
Website: http://www.alaskaair.com

Alaska Airlines (IATA: AS, ICAO: ASA, and Callsign: Alaska), (NYSE: ALK), based in Seattle, Washington, USA, has grown from a small regional airline to one carrying more than 12 million customers per year. It has its hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, as well as large operations at Los Angeles International Airport, Portland International Airport, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport.

Contents 1 History 2 Services 2.1 Affinity programs 3 Destinations 4 Fleet 5 Livery 6 Incidents and accidents 7 External links

[edit] History

The airline traces its roots to McGee Airways, which flew its inaugural service between Anchorage and Bristol Bay in 1932 with a single-engined, three-passenger aircraft. Mergers and acquisitions produced changes in the name and saw business expand throughout Alaska and the USA. The name Alaska Airlines was adopted in 1944. Alaska's sister (and wholly owned) airline, Horizon Air, was founded in 1981 to serve communities using routes vacated by larger airlines after the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. In 1985, Alaska Air Group was formed as a holding company for Alaska Airlines. A year later the holding company acquired Horizon Air and Jet America Airlines, which merged into Alaska Airlines in 1987. The airline employs 10,040 staff (at January 2005).

[edit] Services

Alaska's route system spans more than 80 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. From 1991 to 1998 the airline also served the Russian Far East.

Alaska's reputation for outstanding service has earned it high marks from sources such as Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler magazines. The airline is considered an early adopter of technology, and was the first to sell tickets on their own website, allow web check-in, and install self check-in kiosks at airports. Alaska Airlines also was the first airline to introduce the digEplayer, a portable digital entertainment system which features on-demand movies, TV shows, cartoons, music and destination info.

Alaska has historically been one of the largest carriers on the US west coast as well as to and within the State of Alaska, with strong presences in Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area and the Los Angeles Metro Area (all five airports). With the delivery of 737 Next-Generation aircraft starting in 1999, Alaska began launching more long-haul flights. In 2000, Alaska started service between Anchorage and Chicago. In 2001, the airline was granted slot exemptions by the Department of Transportation to operate a nonstop flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Seattle, which was halted after only a few days due to 9/11. However, the service resumed the following year, with an additional flight from Washington National to Seattle added in 2004, as well as new non-stop service between Washington National and Los Angeles. Other long-haul flights from Seattle were launched starting in 2002. Alaska currently offers nonstop service from Seattle to Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Newark, Orlando, and DCA. From LAX, they have extensive services to Mexico. The following cities in Mexico are currently served from LAX (and a few of them are also operated from San Francisco and Seattle on a seasonal basis): La Paz, Loreto, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Guadalajara, Mexico City and Cancun. Alaska also serves Vancouver from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Palm Springs (seasonally), San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle, as well as Calgary from Los Angeles and Seattle. Alaska Airlines is considering flights to Hawaii from Seattle and/or Anchorage in the near future, as some of their new 737-800s are ETOPS equipped.

Alaska Airlines' regional carrier, Horizon Air, is closely integrated into Alaska's operations, with Alaska and Horizon sharing many routes. Alaska and Horizon are owned by the same parent company, Alaska Air Group.

[edit] Affinity programs

The airline's frequent flyer program is called Mileage Plan.

[edit] Destinations

Main article: Alaska Airlines destinations

[edit] Fleet

The Alaska Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November, 2006):

Aircraft	#	Seats	Notes
Boeing 737-200	5	26-111 Coach	Combi aircraft (capable of carrying passengers and cargo at once); Seating dependent on cargo volume. To be retired in 2007, replaced by modified 737-400
Boeing 737-400	37	12/132	Largest customer in the world (this type);
Boeing 737-400F	1	All Cargo	10 Freight Pallets
Boeing 737-400 Combi	(2)	72 Coach	Fixed configuration (cargo forward, passengers aft); first two of four aircraft currently being converted
Boeing 737-700	22	12/112
Boeing 737-800	14	16/141	44 total on order
Boeing 737-900	12	16/156	Launch customer of aircraft
MD-80 (MD-83)	24	12/128	Planned to retire by end of 2008 and be replaced by 737-800

As of March 2006, the average age of Alaska Airlines' fleet is 10 years.

Alaska operates a fleet of Boeing 737 and MD-80 (under McDonnell Douglas when purchased or leased) jets which is one of the youngest among all major airlines. The airline ultimately plans to replace all MD-80 aircraft with Boeing 737-800s by the end of 2008. Alaska was the launch customer for the 737-900 stretch variant and also uses 737-400, 737-700 and 737-800 throughout its system, plus 737-200 Combination passenger/cargo (Combi) within the state of Alaska and to Seattle. Starting in late 2005, Alaska began modifying some of its 737-400's to all-cargo or cargo-passenger configuration to replace its aging fleet of 737-200 Combi aircraft. The first of these aircraft entered service as a freighter in July 2006, while two 737-400 aircraft are currently being reconfigured to a fixed passenger/cargo configuration.

On 15 June 2005, Alaska ordered 35 Boeing 737-800 aircraft worth $2.3 billion (at list prices) plus options for 15 additional aircraft and purchase rights for another 50, making it one of the largest orders for the 737-800. The first of these aircraft was delivered in January 2006, with deliveries scheduled to continue for the next six years (ref: Air International, July 2005).

[edit] Livery

The Eskimo has been featured on the tails of Alaska jets for more than 25 years. Contrary to popular opinion, the face on the tail does not represent or allude to any specific person. In addition, Alaska flies several aircraft with special liveries. Three 737-400 aircraft feature special Disney paint schemes. Another 737-400 is painted to look like a giant salmon, while one 737-400 and one 737-800 feature the "reverse scheme" livery with alaskaair.com painted on the sides. The colors of Alaska Airlines starting in the 1980s were blue and green. At the start of the 1990s Alaska's colors became ink blue and teal. In November Alaska added another 737 to its fleet in the Disney Genie scheme.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On September 4, 1971, Alaska Airlines Flight 1866, a Boeing 727-193 crashed into a mountain while on approach to Juneau, Alaska, after receiving misleading navigational information. All seven crew members and 104 passengers were killed.

On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged into the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu, California shortly before attempting an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle, killing all 88 people on board. In its final report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the cause of the accident to be failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew acme nut threads due to insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly by Alaska Airlines. NTSB further determined that the insufficient lubrication resulted from Alaska's extended lubrication and inspection intervals and from the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) approval of those intervals. NTSB also found that the lack of a fail-safe mechanism for the failure of the acme nut threads on the MD-80 design contributed to the accident. This incident, along with the earlier ValuJet crash, led to closer FAA oversight of airline maintenance operations.

December 26, 2005: Flight 536, which was headed from Seattle, WA to Burbank, CA was forced to make an emergency landing. The cause was a foot-long hole in the fuselage, which caused the plane to lose cabin pressure. According to NTSB spokesman Jim Struhsaker, a baggage claim handler has admitted failing to immediately report bumping the plane at the gate with a baggage cart or baggage-belt machine. The Associated Press quotes Stuhsaker saying "The bump created a crease in the plane's aluminum skin, which opened up into a 12- by 6-inch gash as the plane came under increased pressure at 26,000 feet."[1]

[edit] External links

• Alaska Airlines
• Alaska Airlines Fleet Age
• Alaska Airlines Fleet Detail
• Alaska Airlines Seating Charts and Seat Reviews
• Alaska Airlines International

Members of the Air Transport Association
ABX Air | Alaska Airlines | Aloha Airlines | American Airlines | Astar Air Cargo | ATA Airlines | Atlas Air | Continental Airlines | Delta Air Lines | Evergreen International Airlines | FedEx | Hawaiian Airlines | JetBlue Airways | Midwest Airlines | Northwest Airlines | Southwest Airlines | United Airlines | UPS Airlines | US Airways
Associate Members: Aeroméxico | Air Canada | Air Jamaica | Mexicana

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