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Alaska Airlines takes flying fish to a whole new level
$500,000 grant from federal funding pays for custom paint job on company's passenger jet
By WESLEY LOY
Anchorage Daily News
Published: October 2, 2005
Last Modified: October 2, 2005 at 03:07 AM
So, you landed a big king salmon this summer? It can't compare to the colossal king Alaska Airlines plans to land this morning in Anchorage.
The Seattle-based carrier has painted nearly the full length of a Boeing 737-400 passenger jet as a wild Alaska king, or chinook, salmon. The airline has dubbed its flying fish the "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon."
It's a bold promotional move to celebrate wild Alaska seafood and also the carrier's role in hauling millions of pounds of fresh salmon, halibut, crab, shrimp and other seafood out of the state each year.
The fishy paint job was done on a grand scale, company spokesmen said. A team of 30 painters and airbrush artists used more than 140 gallons of paint and took 24 days to render the lifelike chinook -- triple the time normally needed to coat an airliner.
"There's no question, at least in my mind, that this is the finest airline art ever conceived," said Bill MacKay, the company's Anchorage-based senior vice president. "People will just be amazed at the detail."
A local nonprofit agency, the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, gave Alaska Airlines a $500,000 grant to paint the jet. The money came out of about $29 million in federal funding U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and his congressional colleagues have appropriated to the marketing board, created in 2003, to promote and enhance the value of Alaska seafood. The senator's son, state Sen. Ben Stevens, is chairman of the agency's board of directors.
The state's commercial salmon industry has struggled for years due to competition from foreign, farm-raised salmon, but the promotional dollars are helping the industry make a comeback, said Bill Hines, the marketing board's executive director.
Many commercial fishermen and industry boosters have dreamed of seeing an Alaska Airlines jet emblazoned with a fish, Hines said. Alaska Airlines approached the marketing board with the idea, and the board awarded the grant.
Alaska Airlines takes flying fish to a whole new level
$500,000 grant from federal funding pays for custom paint job on company's passenger jet
By WESLEY LOY
Anchorage Daily News
Published: October 2, 2005
Last Modified: October 2, 2005 at 03:07 AM
So, you landed a big king salmon this summer? It can't compare to the colossal king Alaska Airlines plans to land this morning in Anchorage.
The Seattle-based carrier has painted nearly the full length of a Boeing 737-400 passenger jet as a wild Alaska king, or chinook, salmon. The airline has dubbed its flying fish the "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon."
It's a bold promotional move to celebrate wild Alaska seafood and also the carrier's role in hauling millions of pounds of fresh salmon, halibut, crab, shrimp and other seafood out of the state each year.
The fishy paint job was done on a grand scale, company spokesmen said. A team of 30 painters and airbrush artists used more than 140 gallons of paint and took 24 days to render the lifelike chinook -- triple the time normally needed to coat an airliner.
"There's no question, at least in my mind, that this is the finest airline art ever conceived," said Bill MacKay, the company's Anchorage-based senior vice president. "People will just be amazed at the detail."
A local nonprofit agency, the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, gave Alaska Airlines a $500,000 grant to paint the jet. The money came out of about $29 million in federal funding U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and his congressional colleagues have appropriated to the marketing board, created in 2003, to promote and enhance the value of Alaska seafood. The senator's son, state Sen. Ben Stevens, is chairman of the agency's board of directors.
The state's commercial salmon industry has struggled for years due to competition from foreign, farm-raised salmon, but the promotional dollars are helping the industry make a comeback, said Bill Hines, the marketing board's executive director.
Many commercial fishermen and industry boosters have dreamed of seeing an Alaska Airlines jet emblazoned with a fish, Hines said. Alaska Airlines approached the marketing board with the idea, and the board awarded the grant.