Alaska Air Group
Encyclopedia
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
holding firm
Firm
A firm is a business.Firm or The Firm may also refer to:-Organizations:* Hooligan firm, a group of unruly football fans* The Firm, Inc., a talent management company* Fair Immigration Reform Movement...
/ corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
based in SeaTac, Washington
SeaTac, Washington
SeaTac is an American city in southern King County, Washington, and an outlying suburb of Seattle, Washington. Incorporated in February 1990, the City of SeaTac is ten square miles in area and has a population of 26,909 according to the 2010 census...
which owns two certificated airlines operating in the United States: Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is an airline based in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, Washington in the United States. The airline originated in 1932 as McGee Airways. After many mergers with and acquisitions of other airlines, including Star Air Service, it became known as Alaska Airlines in 1944...
and Horizon Air
Horizon Air
Horizon Air Industries, Inc. is a regional low-cost airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. It is the eighth largest regional airline in the USA, serving 52 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico....
. In 1985, it was formed and a year later the holding company acquired Horizon Air and Jet America Airlines
Jet America Airlines
Jet America Airlines was an airline that operated domestic flights in the United States between 1981 and 1987. It was headquartered in Signal Hill, California, near Long Beach.-History:...
. Jet America Airlines, and their employees were merged into Alaska Airlines in 1987. Alaska Air Group has no relationship to JetAmerica
JetAmerica
Sun America, Inc., d/b/a JetAmerica, was a proposed American low-cost scheduled public charter airline headquartered in unincorporated Pinellas County, Florida...
, an airline proposed in 2009.
Alaska Air Group subsidiaries employed 9,866 staff as recently as 2007, but have cut that number back substantially by 2008. It remains undetermined how many employees actually work for Alaska Air Group itself. Alaska Airlines operates only U.S. built Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
aircraft with up to 172 seats while Horizon operates only Canadian built Bombardier
Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...
aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
with up to 76 seats.
The separation of the two companies is not due to "Scope Clauses," as is the case with other similar holding companies and their airlines such as Mesa Air Group
Mesa Air Group
Mesa Air Group, Inc. is a Nevada Corporation commercial aviation holding company with headquarters in Suite 100 at 410 North 44th Street in the Camelback East area of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The company operates one regional airline subsidiary: Mesa Airlines, and five supporting...
and Freedom Airlines
Freedom Airlines
Freedom Airlines, Inc. was an American FAA Part 121 certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number FDKA087K issued on April 1, 2002. The Nevada Corporation is headquartered in Irving, Texas and is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group...
or Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is an aviation holding corporation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, which owns six airlines operating in the United States: Chautauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Republic Airlines, Shuttle America, and the former Lynx Aviation....
and Shuttle America
Shuttle America
Shuttle America Corporation is a regional airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It feeds United Airlines flights at Chicago, Denver, and Washington as United Express, and feeds Delta Air Lines flights at Atlanta and New York as Delta Connection and Delta Shuttle.-History:Shuttle America...
.
Alaska Air Group is the parent company
Parent company
A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...
and holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
of both independently "branded" Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is an airline based in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, Washington in the United States. The airline originated in 1932 as McGee Airways. After many mergers with and acquisitions of other airlines, including Star Air Service, it became known as Alaska Airlines in 1944...
and Horizon Air
Horizon Air
Horizon Air Industries, Inc. is a regional low-cost airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. It is the eighth largest regional airline in the USA, serving 52 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico....
operations.
Fleet
As of November 2008, Alaska Air Group has a total of 157 aircraft, making it comparable in size to AirTran HoldingsAirTran Holdings
AirTran Holdings was a Nevada corporation, based in Orlando, Florida, United States, that operated as an airline holding company. Its primary asset was AirTran Airways until Southwest Airlines acquired AirTran on May 2, 2011.- History :...
. As of 2010 that number went up to 174 aircraft.
Regional Fleet Branding
Alaska Air Group has created a new branding identity for its Horizon Air subsidiary and any other independently owned and separately directed affiliate regional airlineRegional airline
Regional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
s it chooses to contract to do regional flying business into markets too limited to be flown only upon Alaska Airlines mainline
Mainline (flight)
A mainline flight is a flight operated by an airline's main operating unit, rather than by regional alliances, regional code-shares or regional subsidiaries...
equipment.
Among the other airlines now sub-contracted to do additional flying for the Alaska Air Group are; SkyWest, Inc.
SkyWest, Inc.
SkyWest, Inc. is the parent company of SkyWest Airlines , Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and ExpressJet Airlines. It is headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States.-History:...
's, SkyWest Airlines
Skywest Airlines
Skywest Airlines Pty Ltd is a regional airline company based in Perth, Western Australia, Australia; servicing key towns in the state of Western Australia, Darwin, Northern Territory and Melbourne, Victoria; as well as charter flights to Bali, Indonesia....
whose regional airliner
Regional airliner
A regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' hubs from small markets. This class of airliners are typically flown by the regional airlines that are either contracted by or subsidiaries of the...
s dedicated to Alaska Air Group are color modeled similar to Alaska Horizon's, illustrated in the image above.
SkyWest's fleet however, are branded Alaska SkyWest to differentiate that airlines operations of the Bombardier CRJ short haul
Short haul
The following is a list of commercial short-haul civilian passenger "jet airliners," recent, operating, or proposed. These include early generation turbojet, fanjet, and turbofan powered aircraft designed for none transoceanic intercontinental routes operations or flights.For short haul pertaining...
Regional jet
Regional jet
A Regional jet , is a class of short to medium-range turbofan powered airliners.-History:The term "Regional jet" describes a range of short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in...
equipment from the equipment presently used by Horizon Air, the Alaska Air Group's sole in-house regionally based short-haul air carrier
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
subsidiary.
Principal route structure
Through its two principal airline subsidiaries, Alaska Air Group, services the needs of passenger and cargo airlineCargo airline
Cargo airlines are airlines dedicated to the transport of cargo. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines.-Logistics:...
markets of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
with its extensive route network hub through the cities of Seattle and Portland Oregon.
In recent years, The Alaska Air Group, has expanded heavily upon routes centering upon Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and other none-airline hub
Airline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
secondary mainland cities and airports with the demise of Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport...
and ATA Airlines
ATA Airlines
ATA Airlines, Inc., formerly known as American Trans Air, was an American low-cost scheduled service and charter airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana. ATA operated scheduled passenger flights throughout the US mainland and Hawaii, as well as military and commercial charter flights around the world...
in 2008.