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, (), 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 , and
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport .
The airline traces its roots to , 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 ).
On
September 4 ,
1971 ,
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 , a
Boeing 727-193 crashed into a mountain while on approach to
Juneau, AK , after receiving misleading navigational information. All seven crew members and 104 passangers 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.
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."
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January 11 ,
2006 : A flight is again forced to make an emergency landing at Sea-Tac after a maintenance worker left a landing gear door locked open.
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 one of the first to sell tickets on their own website, allow web check-in, and install self check-in kiosks at airports.
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 to Los Angeles.
Alaska Airlines' regional carrier,
Horizon Air , is closely integrated into Alaska'a operations, with Alaska and Horizon sharing many routes. Alaska and Horizon are owned by the same parent company, Alaska Air Group.
The airline's
Frequent Flyer Program is called Mileage Plan.
See Also: Alaska Airlines destinations
The Alaska Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of late March 2006):
- 12 Boeing 737-900
- 5 Boeing 737-800
- 22 Boeing 737-700
- 39 Boeing 737-400
- 7 Boeing 737-200C
- 26 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s consisting of these:
- ---3 McDonnell Douglas MD-82
- ---23 McDonnell Douglas MD-83
In 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 had planned to phase out all of the MD-80 aircraft with new 737 models, but the difficult financial state of the airline industry in the early
2000s has kept the MD-80s in the fleet for now. Despite being notorious for mechanical problems, the MD-80 is very popular with passengers. This is partially because of the quiet cabin and partially because there are more aisle and window seats because of the 3-2 seat arragement. Alaska was the launch customer for the
737-900 stretch variant and also uses 737-400, 737-700 and 737-800 variants throughout its system, plus 737-200 Combination passenger/cargo within the state of Alaska and to Seattle.
On
15 June 2005 , Alaska ordered 35 new
Boeing 737 -800 aircraft worth $2.3 billion at list prices, with options for 15 additional aircraft. In addition to these 50 aircraft, Alaska also took out purchase rights for a further 50 aircraft, making this one of the largest orders placed for the 737-800. First delivery was made in January
2006 , with the remainder being phased in over the next six years (ref: Air International, July 2005).
Unique among airlines, the company traditionally distributes
Prayer cards to its passengers along with their meals. This has prompted some complaints (
[http://www.geocities.com/closetatheist/opinion20.htm ) from non-theists, and has brought the airline brief attention from travel sites (
and newspapers ([http://www.usatoday.com/life/2005-10-19-starbucks-quote_x.htm ).
