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Chester flies on an Airbus

Chester flies on an Airbus

Alaska Airlines is really, really, really no longer “Proudly all Boeing.” Putting aside the many different exceptions to that claim over the years the carrier now truly has no reason to stake that claim. Chester, the iconic Eskimo visage that adorns the tails of Alaska Airlines’ planes is now flying on an A320.

Ship N625VA is set to reenter service this week after spending a few days out in the desert at Victorville, getting the new livery applied.

Read More: Alaska Airlines, Virgin America unite; change is coming for everyone

And, quite frankly, I have to wonder why they waited so long. Yes, I know that the single operating certificate only came about earlier this month. But that’s a back-office milestone. Getting the planes painted to unify the branding (and we’ve all known that the Virgin America branding is going away for a while now) could have still happened while operating under separate certificates. Then again, it is just a paint job and doesn’t really matter at all compared to the changes that are going to come about on board over time.

Also, worth noting that this isn’t the first Airbus to fly in the Alaska Airlines colors. An A321neo was delivered brand new with the “More West Coast” livery on it.

But no Chester on that version, just an ugly, plain white tail. Seeing Chester on the tail makes it really real.

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Seth Miller

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I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

10 Comments

    2. Alaskan here, and not quite. Eskimo is incorrectly applied to many circumpolar indigenous peoples who do not accept the term, but in Alaska the term remains in accepted, common use to self-describe Native Alaskans from the North and Northwest of the state. “Native Alaskan” is a term appropriate for all Alaska Natives (it’s also a legal distinction), through further delineation Alaska Natives can be Eskimo, Aleut, or Native American. Eskimo groups of people include Yup’ik, Cup’ik, and Iñupiat; while it’s always most correct to use an individual’s preferred term, Chester is a composite rendering of an Alaska Native from the particular region of Alaska where “Eskimo” would be appropriate and generally accepted by Native Alaskans from that region. “Camel jockey” has never been anything but a pejorative.

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