I Saw the Northern, Northern Lights

Alaska makes a big purchase AND a big change

Finally! A new livery to talk about!

When I first started this Substack, I thought the only thing I would talk about is liveries.¹ The biggest chunk of my career has been spent in the world of inflight entertainment, but my heart will always be in airline branding. My very first job required me to watch airline paint dry on several occasions.²

I plan on going deep into the importance of liveries in a future (and much longer) post. But for now, I’m excited that my friends at Alaska officially unveiled their new livery yesterday in Seattle. The freshly painted 787-9 made its debut along with an announcement of Alaska’s largest aircraft order in history from their neighbors at Boeing.

Get the lighting right and everything takes care of itself. You could roll a retired MD-82 in there and still get ooh’s and ahh’s. (Photo Courtesy Alaska Airlines)

As someone who had the pleasure of working with Alaska for many years, it has been remarkable to watch their growth during that time. When I first started working with Alaska, they were still primarily a West Coast airline that also flew to Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico.³ We used to send them a box of audio cassettes for their boarding music because that was the only entertainment onboard.⁴ Since then, they’ve fended off multiple attempted kill-shots by Delta in Seattle, bought (and disappeared) Virgin America, expanded significantly across the country, bought (and didn’t disappear) Hawaiian Airlines, improved their overall product and will start flying to Europe later this year. Not bad.

So yesterday was obviously a big day for the team, and they did it up right.

Big reveal in a dramatically lit hangar at Boeing?

Check.

Enthusiastic hand-picked employees and business partners in the audience who will applaud everything that is said?

Check.

Speeches from Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci that can be easily pulled for news clips?

Check.

Extremely well done online press kit and hype video on YouTube?

Double Check!⁵

Beautiful livery that’s a slam dunk hit?

Well, let’s talk about that . . .

And you thought masking and painting your half-bathroom was difficult. (Photo Courtesy Alaska Airlines)

In a vacuum, I think the new livery is objectively attractive. While it adheres to the contemporary school of a mostly white fuselage, the intricate tail design definitely stands out from other recent livery debuts that use the same basic construct.⁶ It also helps that Alaska has a strong creative theme behind it, dubbing this the “Aurora” livery for its evocation of the Northern Lights, or as they put in their words:

The new 787-9 exterior design draws inspiration from the natural wonder of the Aurora Borealis, featuring a palette of deep midnight blues and lush emerald greens that channel the aurora’s energy and spirit of the Alaska brand.⁷

My main issue with the new livery, though, is why? Alaska’s existing livery is one of the most iconic in the industry. The core design, featuring the infamous “Chester” on the tail, has been going strong for decades and has deep connections to Alaska’s heritage.⁸ There have been several business turning points over the years where a major livery or brand change could have been justified, but Alaska has held firm. Consistency has trumped all — something I have always admired about the airline.

Maybe Chester doesn’t want to pay the exorbitant landing fees at London Heathrow. (Photo Credit: Mertbiol, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

I guess that’s finally changed. In his speech, CEO Ben Minicucci talked about Alaska becoming the fourth US “global airline.” That’s an ambitious and laudable goal. But maybe the Alaska team doesn’t think that Chester plays in London or Rome or wherever else in Europe they want to fly. I might have been willing to give Chester that shot.

In fairness, there does not seem to be any indication that Chester will be disappearing from the Alaska domestic fleet, including the over 100 737-10 aircraft that are part of yesterday’s purchase announcement. I’m guessing there will be lots of employees and longtime loyal fliers who are relieved that he’s not disappearing entirely. It would be tough to pull up to SeaTac Airport and not see dozens of smiling Chesters.

It’s indisputable that yesterday was a big day for the folks at Alaska. They have big plans and just bought some sweet-looking new planes to help achieve them.

I’ll be cheering for them, even if I’m still cheering for Chester.

Notes

1. Livery is a fancy word for paint scheme, and while the livery is important to an airline brand, it can also be a source of endless and often tedious debate — just Google “best airline liveries”

2. While I admit that I am prone to exaggeration, this is 100% true — I have literally watched paint dry and yes, the metaphor is accurate

3. No, I’m not being cute here — while Alaska has its original roots in its namesake state, it’s long been based in Seattle, but many people still think its HQ is on a glacier outside Anchorage or something

4. Yes, I said audio cassettes, and no, I was not working with Alaska in 1989, this was 2009 — airplane technology sometimes lags a little bit

5. I can’t emphasize enough how impressed I am with the materials the Alaska marketing and PR teams put together for the rollout — other airlines should take note

6. I’m looking at you Lufthansa — but at least you had my friend Laird Kay give you the best possible photo treatment

7. I used to write this kind of stuff

8. There’s no definitive answer on who “Chester” really is, but he’s always been on the tail even if the rest of the livery surrounding him has seen some revisions