Alaska Airlines - History - 2010s

2010s

On September 27, 2010 Alaska Airlines began service between Seattle and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

On August 23, 2010, Alaska Air Group (the parent company of Alaska Airlines) announced that a new business model was to be initiated to have all decisions regarding route choices and marketing services for Horizon Air to be made by Alaska Airlines by early 2011, which was referred to as the "Capacity Purchase Agreement". Therefore, all ticket revenue from Horizon would go directly to Alaska, while Horizon's operating costs would be covered. Subsequently, Alaska announced that it would retire the Horizon brand. All Horizon aircraft are being repainted in the Alaska livery, with Horizon's pre-existing services remaining intact.

In January 2011, Alaska Airlines placed an order for thirteen 737-900ERs. The aircraft will be delivered between 2012 and 2014. Alaska also ordered two 737-800s as part of this order.

The airline also recorded record profits for 2010, as well as record profits for the fourth quarter of 2010. The profit for the entire year was $251.1 million, an increase from $121.6 million a year earlier. Alaska’s 2010 fourth-quarter profit of $64.8 million was up from $24.1 million from the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Alaska Airlines continues pioneering new technologies today. In 2011 Alaska Airlines partnered with Boeing and Fujitsu to be the first to use a new technology called Component Management Optimization, which will streamline maintenance checks. It will do this by allowing mechanics to point a handheld device at little RFID tags attached to certain parts of the aircraft, which will display information about when parts were last replaced. This will allow mechanics to perform inspections quicker than conventional methods. The program is scheduled to launch in 2012. Also in mid-2011, the airline issued iPads to its pilots to replace 25 pounds of paper flight manuals that pilots are currently required to carry on flights. Alaska Airlines is the first major airline to use iPads on flights; all pilots had iPads by the middle of June 2011. This was the first part of the airline's initiative to do away with the flight bag; the airline is also considering using iPads for displaying aeronautical charts.

In November 2011 Alaska Airlines flew 75 commercial passenger flights in the U.S. powered by biofuel using a 20 percent blend of sustainable biofuel made from used cooking oil that meets rigorous international safety and sustainability standards.

On February 16, 2012, Alaska Airlines' CEO, Bill Ayer, announced his retirement. Ayer became the airline's CEO in 2002 and has been credited for reducing costs and keeping the airline profitable without going through bankruptcy. The airline's president Brad Tilden officially became the new CEO on May 15, 2012.

On March 9, 2012, Alaska Airlines began service from Seattle to Kansas City and on June 11, 2012 began service to Philadelphia. Seattle-Miami flights ended on July 15, 2012, but service to nearby Fort Lauderdale began on July 16. New service to San Antonio began on September 17, 2012. Alaska Airlines also began service from San Diego to Orlando on October 11, 2012.

In October 2012 (2012-10), Alaska placed the largest order in its history when it ordered a total of 50 Boeing 737s in a deal worth US$5 billion at list prices. The order consists of 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, 17 Boeing 737 MAX 9s and 13 Boeing 737-900ERs.