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Horizon Air

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Horizon Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
QX QXE HORIZON AIR
Founded1981
HubsSeattle-Tacoma International Airport
Portland International Airport
Boise Airport[1]
Frequent-flyer programMileage Plan
Fleet size65
Destinations52
HeadquartersSeaTac, Washington
Key peopleJeff Pinneo (CEO), Andy Schneider (VP)
Websitehttp://www.horizonair.com

Horizon Air is a regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. [2] It is the eighth largest regional airline in the USA serving 52 cities in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Its main hub is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with smaller hubs at Portland International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.[3]

Horizon Air is sister carrier to Alaska Airlines and both airlines are members of Alaska Air Group. It is also a substantial codeshare partner of Northwest Airlines, and American Airlines.

History

Horizon Air was formed in May 1981 by Milt Koult, and started operations on 1 September 1981. Its first route was from Seattle to Yakima, Washington. The general offices were operated out of an old house behind Sea-Tac airport. Horizon acquired Air Oregon in 1982 and Transwestern Airlines in 1983 to become one of the largest regional airlines in the USA. It went public in 1984 to raise money for expansion. In 1984 Horizon carried well over half a million passengers. It acquired its first jet, a Fokker F28, in 1985 and began operating feeder flights on behalf of both Northwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines, bought Horizon in 1986 and continued to operate it as an independent carrier. The airline has since completely replaced the Fokker F28 with the Bombardier CRJ 700. The airline shares its activities, bookings, and connection services with Alaska Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, and KLM, and until December 2007, operated regional jet services for Frontier Airlines. The airline operates from its main hub in Seattle and has secondary hubs in Denver, Boise, Portland, and Spokane. In the spring of 2007, Horizon launched service from Los Angeles and Seattle to Santa Rosa, CA to take advantage of the burgeoning wine and tourism industry. This was a significant coup for the Sonoma County region which had not had regularly scheduled air service in almost six years. The new routes proved so popular that in the fall of 2007, Horizon commenced non stop service from Portland, OR to Santa Rosa, and expanded the schedule for non stop flights between Los Angeles and Santa Rosa.

In the past, Horizon Air had an extensive contract flying arrangement with Frontier Airlines, serving smaller markets from Frontier's Denver hub under the name Frontier JetExpress. Both Horizon and Frontier decided to part ways after three years of service. The nine CRJ-700 that have been in use for Frontier JetExpress have been re-introduced into the Horizon route structure starting as of November 30, 2007. In early 2007, Horizon began to sub-lease 16 of its Dash 8 Q-200 aircraft to CommutAir. [4][citation needed]It is wholly owned by the Alaska Airlines Group and has 4,040 employees (at March 2007).[3]

Horizon Air has been featured in several films, including the 1983 motion picture WarGames.

Destinations

Canada

Alberta

British Columbia

United States

Arizona

California


Idaho

Montana

Nevada

Oregon

Washington

Mexico

Baja California Sur

Livery

File:Horizon25.jpg
The Q400 in anniversary colors at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

At the start of the carrier, Horizon had a painted sunset with a small beach with capitalized words saying "Horizon". The current Horizon Air livery is very similar to its parent, Alaska, except for a dark red (rather than blue) cleatline, and the tail includes a stylized sun and sunset logo, rather than an eskimo. There is also a Bombardier Q400 completely covered with the 25th anniversary design to celebrate 25 years of Horizon Air service. Some Dash 8's have names of Horizon destinations printed near the front left door. Starting in late December 2007, Horizon Air announced that four CRJ-700 jets would be painted in the colors and logos of the major public universities in Washington and Oregon: Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Washington State University, and University of Washington.

File:CRJ College Livery.jpg
CRJ College Livery

Incidents and accidents

Since the founding, no fatal accidents have occurred.

On April 15 1988, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 crashed after making an emergency landing in Seattle, Washington when the number two, right side, engine lost power after take-off (due to a manufacturer error). Loss of hydraulic pressure, due to the number two engine being shut down, caused the plane to roll into the B7 and B9 jetways and was destroyed by fire. Miraculously, all 40 people onboard survived.[5]

Fleet

Horizon CRJ-700 in Denver

Horizon Air's fleet includes the following aircraft (as of July 2008) [6] :

The average Horizon Air fleet age is 6.1 years old in April 2008.[7] The CRJ-700 is a 70-seat, low-wing jet, while the Dash-8 is a 37 (Q200), 74 or 76 (Q400) seat, high-wing turboprop. Horizon Air recently converted its outstanding CRJ orders into Q400 orders.

In April 2008, Horizon announced that it would transition to an all Q400 fleet, in an effort to save money on fuel costs.[8] The airline plans to transition out of the 20 Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jets within two years. This is to coincide with the transition out of the remaining 37-seat Bombardier Q200s by June 2009. [9]

References

  1. ^ alaskaair.com-Investor Relations-Corporate Profile retrieved 7/10/2008
  2. ^ "Media Contacts: Alaska Airlines," Alaska Airlines
  3. ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 91.
  4. ^ Dash 8 acquisition "CommutAir/Continental Connection concludes transaction for larger aircraft" (Press release). CommutAir. 2006-09-12. Retrieved 2007-02-10. {{cite press release}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ NTSB Synopsis
  6. ^ Alaska Airlines website - Fleet details
  7. ^ Horizon Air Fleet Age
  8. ^ Alaska Air loses $36M in Q1, plans cost cuts - East Bay Business Times:
  9. ^ Alaska Air Group Reports First Quarter 2008 Results: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
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