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  Alaska Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AS/ASA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Anchorage International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Portland International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1932

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Ben Minicucci

  Country:

  United States

  Region:

  North America

Alaska Airlines has a proud history of flying jets that goes back to 1961, when competitors like Pan Am, Northwest, and another regional carrier, Pacific Northern, started introducing Boeing 707s and Convair 880s. Alaska Airlines, seeing that the Convair 880 could carry 110 passengers at 470–534.5 kn (870–990 km/h) at altitude, decided to buy one.

First Jet: Convair 880

The first jet in Alaska Airlines service - a Convair 880 - with registration number N8477H would, according to a May 29, 2001 statement,

...set a speed record of one hour, 43 minutes between Los Angeles and Seattle on its delivery flight. The introduction of the Convair 880 more than halved the flying time between Seattle and Anchorage, from as long as eight hours aboard a DC-6 depending on weather conditions, to less than three hours by jet.

The aircraft demonstrated the business case for switching from propliners like the Douglas DC-6 to jetliners, making connections from Alaska to the contiguous 48 states faster and more comfortable. Alaska Airlines' Convair 880 also had a lounge up front with seatbelts and had four General Electric CJ-805-3 turbojets for engines. These were a civilian version of the same afterburning J79 used by 1960s fighters like the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom.

Alaska Airlines invests in Boeing 727s

For Alaska Airlines, 1966 would be the beginning of the Boeing 727 era. Boeing 727s would stay in service with Alaska Airlines into 1994, and would go through several livery changes.

The Boeing 727's ability to land on unpaved runways and its range of 2,550 NM (4,720 km) with 125 passengers in the 727-100 and the 155 passengers in the 727-200 would be a game-changer for Alaska Airlines. At this important time for Alaska Airlines, its addition of the Boeing 727 would allow the airline to expand service and, eventually, to serve Mexico in the 1980s.

According to Airline Reporter, Alaska Airlines, in the early 1970s, leased several Boeing 707s. They would provide additional capacity to the airline and provide an airbridge to the Russian part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

By the late 1970s, Alaska Airlines only served ten cities in Alaska and Seattle, Washington State, USA, with its ten aircraft. Clearly, Alaska Airlines has grown since, particularly when the then-US President Jimmy Carter deregulated the US airline industry in 1978. Today, both airlines in friendly competition own hundreds of aircraft - mostly Boeing 737s.

In the Boeing 727's heyday there was one tragic crash, but otherwise the Boeing 727 was a relatively safe aircraft to fly in. Alaska Airlines, in the 1980s, would change from an Alaska-centric airline to one which, according to Funding Universe, "70 percent of its passengers flew south of Seattle".

Curtains on the 727

By March 1994, the last Boeing 727 would be released from Alaska Airlines service. MD-80s would be Alaska Airlines' main jet; but the Boeing 737 era for Alaska Airlines would begin with 24 Boeing 737-400s in April 1992. With Alaska Airlines onboarding 737 MAXs, the airline has now invested in three generations of Boeing 737 - each generation more efficient and capable than the last.

Sources: Airline Reporter, Funding Universe

Do you wish you could fly with Alaska Airlines in the days of Boeing 727s or do you prefer the Boeing 737s of today? Let us know in the comments please.