The history of Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines was originally founded in 1932 by Linious McGee. The airline was founded as "McGee Airways," and initiated service out of Anchorage's Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. From day one, the carrier served as a passenger and cargo airline, exclusively transporting goods and people throughout Alaska.
McGee Airways was a part of several airline mergers throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s. McGee Airways changed its name to Alaska Airlines in 1944.
Alaska Airlines was incredibly supportive of Alaska becoming an official U.S. state. On January 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th U.S. state. Throughout its 80-year tenure, Alaska has operated numerous different types of aircraft.
On January 11, 2018 Alaska Airlines completed its purchase of Virgin america and operated Virgin America's fleet of nearly 70 Airbus A320 family aircraft until early 2023.
In December 2023, Hawaiian Airlines accepted Alaska's offer to purchase Hawaiian for nearly 2 billion dollars in cash. Alaska Air Group, the holding company that owns Alaska Airlines, decided that the merger would retain both airlines and operate them as separate brands under one operating certificate.
Alaska Airlines and the Airline Deregulation Act
According to Alaska Airlines, it was one of three US air carriers to support the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978. Alaska was supportive of airline deregulation because the deregulation act would allow the airline to grow significantly.
In 1978, Alaska Airlines only served 11 cities, 10 of which were all within the state of Alaska. Outside of Alaska, only Seattle, Washington, was served. Deregulation would allow Alaska to expand its network throughout the contiguous United States.
Alaska's livery lineage
The original livery was born after McGee Airways' first merger. McGee Airways merged with Alaska Star Air Service in 1934. The merged carrier's livery featured a small navy-blue and red circular logo toward the rear of the fuselage. The Douglas DC-3 wore this livery proudly.
In 1961, Alaska acquired its first jet aircraft. Alaska painted a golden-colored eagle on the aircraft's vertical stabilizer to celebrate the addition of jet aircraft to its growing fleet.
The mid-1960s founded a new era for Alaska Airlines. The carrier launched a new advertising campaign to attract more business throughout Alaska. The 1890 Klondike Gold Rush inspired the quirky airline with deep Alaskan routes, so its design team created the "Golden Nugget Service" livery.
Following the golden nugget era came a new look to pay homage to Alaska's Russian lineage. In 1972, the "Spirit of Alaska" livery was born.
"A new paint scheme representing the spirit of The Last Frontier state emerges, honoring Alaska’s Russian heritage, the gold rush era, Native traditions and the people of the far north. The blue Eskimo face debuts on the tails of some of the airline’s 727s."
Chester's arrival
"Chester," the Eskimo, has been a mainstay in Alaska's branding since 1976. In June 1976, Alaska Airlines unveiled its first Eskimo-focused livery on its Boeing 727 aircraft.
Two thin green and blue lines ran parallel along the fuselage and concluded at the cockpit windows. The "Alaska" titles printed on the forward half of the fuselage were based on a Helvetica bold print font.
Alaska Airlines has yet to confirm who exactly is on its aircraft's tails. However, many Alaska Air employees and aviation aficionados have speculated that the logo's inspiration hails from former employees to more generic representations of Alaska's Indigenous people.
Chester's evolution
Since 1976, the Eskimo (Chester) face livery has been given several updates. In 1990, Alaska Airlines debuted a livery update with Chester's face still as the focal point of the company's branding and livery.
Several key elements from the 1976 iteration remained. The "cheat-line" stripes and "Alaska" boldface titles remained, yet they were greatly re-imagined.
The "Alaska" titles were lowered, made larger, and moved to a more forward position, closer to the 1L and 1R doors. The Alaska Airlines marketing team hired a design firm to create a custom typeface for the Alaska fuselage titles. Alaska's mission was to feature a font more representative of true Alaskan culture.
The Alaska titles were crafted with bold, rugged edges resembling "icicles." The cheat lines wrapped around the entire fuselage instead of meeting at the cockpit windows.
Chester's first transpacific journey
Alaska Airlines entered the Hawaiian market in early 2007 with flights from Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL) and Lihue (LIH) on the island of Kaui. In October 2007, the legacy carrier also inaugurated flights from Anchorage to Honolulu, citing a major milestone in the company's long and rich history.
To commemorate the historic service, the Alaska Airlines branding team updated the "icicles" livery on select aircraft to feature a red Hawaiian Lei around the base of the Eskimo graphic.
The inaugural Hawaiian flights were operated on the airline's first ETOPS (extended range twin operations approval) equipped Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Icicles updated
In 2014, Alaska Airlines decided to further modernize the existing icicle livery. Most notably, the design team decided to smooth out the Alaska titles typeface to give it a more refreshed and sleeker look. The Alaska fuselage titles no longer featured the jagged edge lettering, with smooth lines as their replacement.
Alaska's current livery is unique
In 2015, when Alaska Airlines began to execute its most recent brand update, the original plan was to do away with the face on the tail, but there was quite a protest from the native Alaskans, for whom it is a source of enormous pride and identity, so a refreshed version of the warm, smiling face was retained.
Alaska's current livery was designed by the critically acclaimed creative services firm Sid Lee. In January 2015, today's livery was unveiled, showcasing the first major livery update in roughly 25 years. The 2015 livery update debuted on a 10-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft in early 2016.
The list below displays the four major elements of the livery redesign.
- New color palette
- Character font
- Chester the Eskimo tail logo
- Elimination of fuselage cheatlines
The new livery features a rather unique design compared to other major US carriers' current liveries. The rear of the fuselage is adorned with overlapping shades of blue, green, and gray. The waves of color overlap asymmetrically, which is quite a contrast from other airline liveries.
Many of today's liveries host clean-lined and symmetrical detailing in addition to softer color pallets. Alaska's bright blue and green hues stand out against the gray Washington sky. For these reasons alone, it's no secret that Alaska's livery is a fan favorite.
Commemorative liveries
The Alaska Air Group currently has roughly 20 aircraft across three airlines (Alaska, Hawaiian, and Horizon Air) painted in a special livery to honor various people, places, and things.
Many aviation enthusiasts like to "spot" these specific aircraft as they are incredibly eye-catching and stand out against a sea of uniformed paint schemes. The table below names Alaska Airlines (mainline) commemorative livery aircraft.
One of Alaska's most popular and captivating commemorative liveries debuted in May 2023. "Xaat Kwaani Salmon Livery" features bright shades of blue and magenta that pop against its fuselage. Alaska Airlines continues to recognize its Alaskan heritage with this special scheme.
The aircraft is called X̱áat Ḵwáani, which means “Salmon People” in the Alaskan Tlingit language and refers to the spiritual link between the people who interact with the beloved salmon and the role they play in our environment. - Alaska Airlines
