United Airlines as 2019 has introduced a revised version of Continental Airlines; which, I personally hate because it’s way to blue. I am posting this photo because the new livery is not common yet on the AirBus A319 fleet.
I like United's new livery better than the previous Continental livery with United titles slapped on the fuselage. Sure, the Continental globe is still on the tail, but I guess that shouldn't be a surprise since the United-Continental merger in 2012 retained most of Continental's leadership as they were in the stronger position, and therefore, went with its branding. Keeping the United name made sense since that airline had a stronger market presence, kind of like when US Airways bought out American Airlines, and retained the American branding. The new United look is still kind of boring, but it's a step in the right direction. I would love to see the "Tulip" logo come back, but that's not likely. Maybe they will do a retro theme on one of their jets like so many airlines do these days. I believe they have a Continental retro livery out there.
United Airlines as 2019 has introduced a revised version of Continental Airlines; which, I personally hate because it’s way to blue. I am posting this photo because the new livery is not common yet on the AirBus A319 fleet.
I like United's new livery better than the previous Continental livery with United titles slapped on the fuselage.
I feel like they should have a redesign livery like Air Canada. I think they should have done what Americans Airlines because they didn’t keep anything from pre-merger of US Airlines and American Airlines which looked good on the aircrafts.
I like United's new livery better than the previous Continental livery with United titles slapped on the fuselage.
I feel like they should have a redesign livery like Air Canada. I think they should have done what Americans Airlines because they didn’t keep anything from pre-merger of US Airlines and American Airlines which looked good on the aircrafts.
Yes, that was possibly United's best livery. I think I like it better than the Tulip logo with the orange, red, and blue stripes from the late 70's thru the 80's. I would love to see United do a retro theme plane with this livery. It would look fantastic on one of their 737-900's, or a MAX-9. It would probably look great on one of their 787's, too.
Alaska Airlines first 737 MAX flight is this morning
Alaska Air's inaugural 737 MAX flight takes to skies over Seattle by KOMO News StaffMonday, March 1st 2021
SEATTLE -- Alaska Airlines' first 737 MAX flight took the skies over Seattle Monday morning.
Alaska's first MAX was delivered to the airline at the end of January at Boeing Field. The plane is known for next generation features like using sustainable aviation fuel to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. The 737 MAX fleet was grounded for two years after two deadly crashes overseas. The plane was cleared to fly again by the FAA in November.
Investigators blamed an in-flight control system that pilots were never properly trained to handle. Boeing and the FAA took heat for several failures. Pilots will now get additional training on the MAX. "The FAA's training was good but we added to that training and we want to just be better than good," said Alaska pilot Capt. Chris Kipp.
Some passengers said they waited for this flight to open up and booked tickets as fast as they could, with one saying it was even better than snagging a Super Bowl ticket. "It's just the experience," said Ryan Doan. "This is my first time on a first flight and I'm very excited." Alaska will first put the MAX on routes from Seattle to San Diego and Los Angeles and then expand along the West Coast. American and United have also put their 737 MAX planes back in service.
For Alaska, it's the first of many MAX planes on the way. They've ordered 68 of the new planes so far with the option to buy another 52. Those planes will be delivered over the next four years to replace the Airbus planes the airline had acquired with its Virgin America merger.
Starting June 1, Finnair will be launching 3x per week direct Helsinki-Seattle service on their Airbus A330-300 aircraft. When SAS pulled out of Seattle years ago, there was an absence of direct service to Scandinavia until Icelandair came around, and now we have Finnair. As a OneWorld alliance member, it will feed nicely into the Alaska and American networks. I would love to see SAS come back, but Star Alliance, which SAS is a member of, is pretty weak in Seattle, and SAS primarily code shares with United, which also does not have a large presence in Seattle anymore. But, happy to see Finnair coming.
I found kind of a cool video about Sea-Tac airport on YouTube. It reviews the operations there, and a little (very little) behind the scenes look. It's part of an airport series - a bit of a puff piece, but still interesting as it covers some of the unique aspects of SEA. I thought I would share it here. See link:
The A320's are not a surprise. I believe the plan was to completely retire that sub-fleet by 2024 at the latest, so now it's 2023. Those aircraft came from Virgin America, and most are on leases, anyway, so it makes sense to dump them. The A321NEO's are new, and apparently quite popular among the flight crews. Those are very good airplanes, but again, the 737 MAX10 should fulfill most of their needs in that segment/size class. The Q400's surprise me a little. I thought Alaska was going to hang on to those for awhile. They are very efficient and cost effective on the shorter, lower-yield routes. I'm kind of sorry they are getting rid of the Q400's so soon. Yes, I know they are getting up there in age, but Alaska/Horizon is one of the largest operators of that type in the world.
Sea-Tac's new international arrivals hall opened today. KOMO did a piece on the first arriving flight to use the new facility. It's a massive upgrade over the dungeon in South Satellite, and some gates in Concourse A were modified to handle arriving international flights, so it's not all cramped into South Satellite. It's a step in the right direction, for sure - now, let's get onto re-building South Satellite to make it a much better experience for international travelers transiting through SEA. komonews.com/news/local/first-flight-lands-at-sea-tac-airports-new-international-arrivals-hall
