Alaska Airlines and regional subsidiary Horizon Air each had a special livery unveiled yesterday. Due to my obsession with special paint schemes, I naturally had to blog about them. 
Alaska is a sponsor of Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno, and as such revealed a specially-painted 737-800, registered N596AS. The Seattle-based carrier is also sponsoring the website followapolo.com, where fans can track Ohno’s Olympic journey.
Meanwhile, sister airline Horizon unveiled the first (registered N439QX) of two Q400s in a special “Comfortably Greener” livery, which is the airline’s way of touting the environmental benefits of the Q400, such as lower emissions. (Or, to put in in less PR-friendly terms, the Q400 is cheaper to operate compared to other 70-seat RJs, partly because it uses less fuel. So, less emissions is a convenient by-product of cheaper operating costs.)
Click above to enlarge.
The second Q400 in this special scheme arrives next month. Horizon is slowly phasing out its CRJ-700 aircraft, and the airline estimates it will be operating a single fleet type by the end of 2013.
“Or, to put in in less PR-friendly terms, the Q400 is cheaper to operate compared to other 70-seat RJs” Haha
I don’t know how they compare with regards to fuel, but a popular aircraft in this class in East Africa – and much of the rest of the world – is the ATR-72. I’ve yet to find a single U.S airline that flies those.
Cool liveries though. I’m looking forward to seeing one is support of the U.S National Men Soccer team for World Cup 2010.
Delta used to fly the ATR72 with Atlantic Southeast Airlines out of ATL and I believe American Eagle still flies several out of SJU and MIA.
The “comfortably green” Dash 8 flew through GFK on its way to SEA. I missed the day it was here, but several friends went out and looked around it. I think it’s kind of ugly.
I like the Apollo decal. I also like the green Q400. The Horizon Special liveries for the University of Washington, Washington State University, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, and Boise State University are quite good.
Ugly? The ugliest Alaska livery BY FAR is the one done to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaska Statehood. It is based on a drawing by a school student. Horrid!