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A Legacy Written in the Skies

There are some companies that simply mergers with smaller carriers and years of Alaska and the West Coast. Programs range
provide a service, and then there are perseverance, Star Air Service eventually from supporting homeless youth to funding
companies that become woven into the became Alaska Airlines. Yet even as the robotics teams and aviation mechanic training
identity of a place. Alaska Airlines is one of company expanded beyond its bush pilot programs designed to inspire the next
those rare institutions. In Alaska, aviation was roots, it retained the rugged, practical spirit generation.
never considered a luxury. It was survival. that defined Alaska itself. Innovation Above the Clouds
It was connection. It was how mail arrived, More Than an Airline Alaska Airlines has long embraced
groceries were delivered, families reunited, From the beginning, Alaska Airlines was innovation, often leading the aviation industry
and isolated communities remained tethered shaped by its employees. That connection to in ways many travelers may never realize. The
to the outside world. Long before commercial people and place still defines the airline today. airline pioneered in-flight movies, online ticket
air travel became commonplace in much of Now carrying more than 44 million sales, and customer check-in technology,
America, Alaskans were already in the skies. passengers annually across more than 120 becoming one of the first airlines to allow
The story of Alaska Airlines begins not in destinations, Alaska Airlines has evolved into passengers to print boarding passes from
gleaming terminals or corporate boardrooms, one of the nation’s leading carriers while still home.
but in the rugged unpredictability of the maintaining strong ties to the communities it But perhaps the company’s most
frontier. In 1932, bush pilots Charlie Ruttan, serves. The company continues to emphasize meaningful innovations are the ones rooted in
Steve Mills, and Jack Waterworth purchased a its core values: safety, integrity, kindness, culture and identity.
single open-cockpit Fleet biplane and formed performance, and excellence. Employees In 2023, Alaska Airlines unveiled “Xáat
Star Air Service, offering flight instruction are encouraged to volunteer in their local Kwáani,” meaning “Salmon People” in the
and charter services throughout the territory. communities, with the airline converting Tlingit language. Designed by Alaska Native
What they lacked in money, they made up for volunteer hours into financial support for artist Crystal Worl, the aircraft became the
in grit. Pilots answered phones, mechanics nonprofit organizations. first in the history of any domestic airline to
bartered for parts, and flight attendants The company also entirely funds the Alaska feature an Alaska Native language on the
cared for passengers, whether they were Airlines 501(c)(3) Foundation. Established in plane and the first to showcase Northwest
transporting people, dogsled teams, or even 1999, the foundation is dedicated to making Coast formline art honoring the ancestral
livestock. In a place where winter can isolate a meaningful impact in the communities it importance of salmon.
entire communities, aviation becomes deeply serves by committing at least 5% of its funds The flowing salmon imagery wrapping
personal. to grants supporting youth engagement around the Boeing 737 is more than decorative
As Alaska grew, so did the airline. Through and workforce development initiatives in artwork. It represents the relationship between

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