Alaska Airlines has unveiled its newest livery celebrating the San Francisco Giants – the major league baseball team of the city. This comes as the airline continues to expand in the city and build a brand presence in the major business hub. The new livery is the latest of a series of investments Alaska has been making in the city.
Alaska Airlines unveils new special livery
Alaska Airlines, the official airline partner of the San Francisco Giants, has debuted its new Giants-themed livery. Revealed on Wednesday, the livery was sent off with pomp and circumstance, after which it continues to make its way around the network.
The livery is painted on N855VA. According to data from ch-aviation.com, this plane is just over nine years old. Based on data from RadarBox.com, the aircraft flew from San Francisco to Seattle on Wednesday. After that, it has been flying to various cities on the West Coast, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and is also scheduled to make a trip down to Mexico.
For a limited dime, during the duration of the Giants’ postseason play, passengers wearing Giants-themed apparel can board early on all flights departing San Francisco.
Separately, Alaska Airlines also contributed $100,000 to the Willie Mays Scholarship Fund. The fund assists in making college affordable and attainable for San Francisco’s Black youth. It is also designed to help empower them to pursue their goals after high school, college, and beyond.
Natalie Bowman, Alaska Airlines managing director of brand and marketing communications, stated the following on the livery:
“Alaska has been a proud partner of the Giants since 2017. We’re thrilled to display our Giants pride from 35,000 feet with this unique looking plane, and we wish the team the best of luck as they hopefully make a deep run in the postseason.”
Investing in San Francisco
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), according to the airline, is its third-largest hub. Alaska flies 108 daily flights to 39 destinations to and from San Francisco. This includes popular leisure routes like Maui, Cabo, Anchorage, and San Diego. It also offers flights to top business destinations like New York, Chicago, and Dallas.
Recently, Alaska Airlines also opened its newest lounge at SFO. Featuring 9,200 square feet of space, this lounge also features a dedicated area that celebrates the Giants. This includes the children’s play area, where kids can find baseball-themed games and art celebrating mascot Lou Seal. Alaska states this is the first and only co-branded professional sports-themed lounge space in the US.
San Francisco remains important for Alaska Airlines for a multitude of reasons. With the airline as part of the oneworld alliance, its West Coast presence has grown even more critical to sustaining its partnerships. One result of this was continued growth in San Francisco.
United Airlines dominates SFO, but Alaska Airlines is also a significant player in the city. However, Alaska does not offer long-haul international routes from SFO. Airlines like British Airways, Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Iberia, and Qantas, among others, offer nonstop long-haul services from SFO.
While airlines may not need some feed in SFO, what Alaska provides is access to more customers. Given its brand loyalty, partnering with Alaska means a more extensive base of customers from the Bay Area to market services.
Virgin America looms
Alaska Airlines took over Virgin America, and with it, it grew its presence in San Francisco quite a bit. In fact, this aircraft is a legacy Virgin America plane. Virgin America called SFO a hub. Since the merger with Alaska Airlines, the combined airline has been growing out of the airport.
Alaska Airlines is expecting to retire its Airbus A320 aircraft by 2023, meaning the new livery will only fly around Alaska’s network through 2022. However, it is incredibly likely that Alaska offers a livery like this onboard another aircraft, like a Boeing 737 MAX, that continues to represent the airline’s commitment to the ever-so-important Bay Area.
Home to major tech companies and universities, there is plenty of room for Alaska Airlines to further its mission in San Francisco and continue to be a major player in the market. Appealing to local customers and investing in the area is part of this strategy. Alaska has also done a similar thing with the Seattle Seahawks.
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