Alaska Airline. History of the Airline

Alaska Airline
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Alaska Airline
History of the Airline
Alaska Air Group is one of the major air groups in the United States and is based in Washington. The airline was formed in 1985 by the same company which acquired Horizon Air and Jet America Airlines. In 1987, Jet America Airlines and their workers were converted into Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines is autonomously operating and is not part of Jet America. The estimated number of employees for Alaska Air Group as at 2007 is about 9866 members of staff. However, this number has greatly reduced since 2008 and it has been difficult to determine the exact number of employees in Alaska Air Group (Alaska Airlines, 1989).
The aircraft that operates in this airline is the Boeing aircraft which is itself built in the United States. The aircraft has a seating capacity of 172 passengers. On the other hand, Horizon uses the Bombardier aircraft built in Canada for its operations. The seating capacity of the aircraft is about 76 passengers.
Scope Clauses do not give the reason for the separation of the two companies as it has been observed in other companies and their airlines such as Mesa Air Group and Freedom Airline and Shuttle America.
Alaska Air Group is the central company of the independently operated Alaska Airline and Horizon Air operations.
Major Route Structure and Product Alternatives
Alaska route system covers about 92 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The roué structure of the air line covers areas which are even inaccessible by road such as Prudhoe Bay, Anchorage and Cordova. However, the route structure for the airline covered by the two subsidiaries is determined in terms of carriage e.g. passenger and cargo airline markets of the Pacific Northwest. The passenger carrier is mainly used in the cities of Seattle, Portland and Oregon.
Recently, Alaska Airlines have expanded extensively upon the routes covering Hawaii and other remote and secondary main cities and airports following the collapse of Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines in 2008 (Satterfield, 2000).
Other alternative services that are offered on board include complimentary meals and snacks that are given to passengers in the first class and in the main cabin. In 2006, the airline came up with a programme where passenger were expected to buy their meals on board The program was referred to as ‘Northern Bite’ and was applicable for three hours in every flight. As a component of ‘Buy on Board’ the airline provides “picnic packs’ for a charge in coach class of all flights.
The airline also offers on board entertainment. In this case, the airline is recognized by the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA). In 2003, the airline introduced a portable, hard drive based video players, a variety of films and T.V programs that could be watched by passengers as they traveled. Another device called digEplyer was also introduced by baggage handler at the airline referred to as Bill Boyer. As a result of these entertainment varieties, the airline was awarded the “Airline IFE Service of the Year” award at the March 2004 IPEC/ LARA Inflight Online for their good implementation of the digEplayer.
The Airline Has also introduced on board internet access in 2009.
Departments and their roles
One of the major Departments in Alaska Airlines is the Pilots Department. These are the people who fly the planes. They have to work through the years by constantly training to improve their skills and gain enough flying experience. According to regulations of Alaska Airlines, pilots are only certified if they have 250 hours of flying under their belt. The pilots fly plane3s of various sizes. Seasoned pilots are employed to fly the Boeing planes. The pilots are paid according to their frequency of operation and the length of the journey (Walker, 2001).
Another department is the flight attendants department. Their role is to ensure shenanigans do not take place on board the plane. They require intense training to be able to achieve this role. This is because flights to international countries are only allowed to experienced and dedicated staff while new attendants are only allowed to attend to regional destinations. The Alaska airline flight attendants are only paid for the time spent in air. This does not include the time spent on th...