My effort to shoot an arriving A350 at SeaTac provided a secondary benefit. The majority of arriving aircraft land on the outer runway. This is further away and also has a threshold further up the field. This means the aircraft are higher up on the approach. On a clear winter’s day, the planes have the backdrop of the snow covered Olympic mountain range. They were a bit far away but did provide a rather scenic view.
With Alaska Airlines taking over Virgin America, there is a lot of repainting to be done of the fleet. I have seen a few of the newer A321neos around in Alaska colors (mostly special schemes) but I hadn’t had any luck with the A320s in the traditional Alaska scheme. A visit to SFO was bound to change that given that this was the base for Virgin America. Sure enough I got to shoot a few of the jets in their new livery. I have to say, I think it looks quite good on the A320. Of course, there is something of the livery that is missing. None of the Airbus jets carries the “Proudly All Boeing” graphic. None of the Embraers do either although that might soon be something they can add before too long!
The 737 fuselage is closely tied to the previous generations of Boeing jets like the 707 and 727. It inherited the eyebrow windows above the main cockpit windows. These days, the controlled airspace has made the need for these while maneuvering a lot less. Current jets are built without them and many airlines have reduced maintenance costs by plugging them. I had assumed that they had gone away for most operators. Apparently not for Alaska! Walking through the terminal, I saw one jet with the eyebrows and was surprised. However, then I saw a bunch more so clearly this is still something Alaska see as valuable.
The merger of the Virgin America operations into Alaska Airlines means combining the Airbus fleet with the Boeings. Virgin America had ordered some A321neos and these are in the process of delivery just as things are being merged. Alaska chose to change the livery on the next one off the line and adopted a scheme designed to reflect the number of flights they now operate on the west coast. The Most West Coast jet has not been popular since it seems to lack branding of either airline. It was at the gate when I landed in LA and I saw it taxiing out later that morning. I wonder how long it will last in this form?
