Alaska Air Group

A Boeing jet with the face of a smiling Inuk on the tail in Seattle, an Airbus A330 with a woman and a hibiscus flower on a purple background in Honolulu, a small Embraer in the same colors as its big sibling in Portland: Since 2024, they all belong to Alaska Air Group. The holding company from SeaTac has grown steadily through several acquisitions – and in recent months it has changed so much that the old rules of thumb for identifying aircraft no longer work.

From McGee Airways to holding company

The roots go back a long way. In 1932, Linious “Mac” McGee founded McGee Airways in Alaska, which after several mergers took the name Alaska Airlines in 1944. Flying in a state without a continuous road network still shapes the airline today: cargo, mail and fresh fish are as much a part of the business in Alaska as passengers.

In 1985, Alaska Air Group was founded as a holding company, and a year later it bought the regional airline Horizon Air, which had started in 1981 in the northwestern US. That put the basic framework in place that still applies today: a network airline, with a regional operation beneath it that handles feeder flights to smaller cities.

The group took its next big step in 2016 with the acquisition of Virgin America, the Californian lifestyle airline with an Airbus fleet. For around $2.6 billion, Alaska bought access to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Unlike later with Hawaiian, though, the brand disappeared: in 2018 the last aircraft flew under a Virgin America flight number, and Alaska gave up the Airbus jets by 2023. If you still have photos from this transition period in your archive, you own real historical documents – background on such hybrids is in the article on hybrid liveries after mergers.

Hawaiian: the second brand

On December 3, 2023, the group announced the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, in a deal worth around $1.9 billion in total including assumed debt. After the US Department of Justice did not file a lawsuit and the Department of Transportation approved the deal on September 17, 2024, the purchase was completed the next day.

Hawaiian is a venerable operation in its own right: as Inter-Island Airways, it began flying in Hawaii in October 1929. Its home to this day is Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, with a second focus in Kahului on Maui. The Boeing 717s shuttle between the islands, while the A321neo and A330 fly to the mainland and across the Pacific.

Unlike Virgin America, Hawaiian remains a separate brand – with Pualani on the tail, its own onboard service and its own website. Behind the scenes, though, integration is well advanced:

• On October 29, 2025, Alaska and Hawaiian received a single operating certificate from the US aviation authority, the FAA. Since then Hawaiian has also used the callsign ALASKA on the radio; the last flight under the old callsign was HA866 from Pago Pago to Honolulu.
• On April 22, 2026, the booking systems were merged. Since then all flights carry the IATA code AS – including those with Pualani on the tail.
• On April 23, 2026, Hawaiian became a member of oneworld as an Alaska affiliate.

The shared frequent flyer program is called Atmos Rewards.

The airlines of the group at a glance

The table shows which operations and brands fly under the group’s umbrella and how you can recognize them. The codes are as of October 2026.

All aircraft carry US registrations with the prefix N. How these numbers are structured and where you can look them up is explained in the article US N-numbers explained.

The hubs and what you see there

Seattle-Tacoma is the heart of the group, and the headquarters is here too. In Seattle you see the full range of Alaska 737s, Horizon’s E175s and, increasingly, widebody jets on the new long-haul routes. A trip is doubly worthwhile, because the region is also home to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field – the matching spot is the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. To the north, in Everett, is the spot Future of Flight at Paine Field, where Boeing builds widebody jets.

Portland is the second base in the Northwest and matters above all for Horizon, which has its main maintenance base there.

Anchorage is Alaska country in the literal sense: here the airline’s passenger jets mix with the freighters of the big Asia–Europe routes. The city is introduced in the entry for Anchorage Airport, and Point Woronzof describes a classic among the locations. Practical tips are in the guide Plane spotting in Anchorage.

Los Angeles and San Francisco are bases mainly inherited from Virgin America. In Los Angeles, Imperial Hill and the In-N-Out Burger are among the best-known spots, and in San Francisco it is Bayfront Park in Millbrae. More on the airports is at Los Angeles Airport and San Francisco Airport.

Honolulu is the home of Hawaiian and, alongside Seattle, the second big node of the group. Standing here, you see island hoppers, mainland flights and Pacific long-haul all in one place.

Long-haul from Seattle: the new chapter

With Hawaiian came its widebody jets into the group – and with them the ability to offer intercontinental flights from Seattle. It started in May 2025 with the route to Tokyo Narita, flown with an A330-200 in Hawaiian livery. The airline announced Seoul Incheon as its next Asian destination.

In spring 2026, European destinations were added: London, Rome and Keflavík. A narrowbody 737 MAX 8 flies to Iceland, while the other routes are served by widebody jets. For 2027, the airline has announced Athens and Paris. The 787-9s ordered by Hawaiian now fly for Alaska. Since January 2026, the widebody jets have worn their own long-haul livery inspired by the northern lights – first shown on a 787-9.

A fleet in transition: what still flies

In spring 2026, the group had around 345 aircraft. Alaska flew about 235 Boeing 737s and a handful of 787s, and Hawaiian about 24 A330-200s, 18 A321neos and 19 Boeing 717s. Add to that Horizon’s E175s and the E175s that SkyWest flies for Alaska. Numbers change constantly – take them as an order of magnitude.

Alaska Airlines has been a pure Boeing airline again since saying goodbye to the Virgin Airbuses. On short and medium-haul routes, several 737 generations fly, including the 737-800, the 737-900ER and the 737 MAX 9. In January 2026, the group announced its largest order yet: around 110 Boeing aircraft, mostly 737-10s, plus more 787s. How to tell the 737 generations apart is shown in the guide Telling the Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart.

Hawaiian brings the most exotic types. The Boeing 717 has become rare in US scheduled service; the group plans to replace it from 2028 with 737-800s from the Alaska fleet. The A321neo flies mainly between Hawaii and the mainland, while the A330-200 remains the backbone of Hawaii long-haul for now. For Amazon Air, Hawaiian also operates ten A330-300P2F freighters – tips for identifying such conversions are in Identifying cargo aircraft.

Horizon Air retired its last Dash 8 Q400s in 2023 and has flown only the Embraer E175 since. How to tell it from the E170 or E190 is covered in the article Telling the Embraer E-Jets apart.

How to identify the right operator

At Alaska Air Group, many classic tools no longer help: all aircraft have N registrations, and both Alaska and Hawaiian fly under AS and ASA. With these steps, you can still arrive at a clean sighting.

Liveries: how to recognize the family

The Inuk face on the Alaska tail is one of the best-known airline symbols in North America. It was introduced in the 1970s; which person served as the model has not been clearly established. In the 2016 rebrand, the titles became slimmer and the fur hood more colorful – aircraft with the older design have been rare since.

For more than four decades, Hawaiian has relied on Pualani, which roughly means “flower of the sky.” The figure on the purple tail is an eye-catcher on any apron. The aircraft also carry names: the 717s are named after Polynesian birds, the A321neos after Hawaiian plants and forests, and the A330s after Polynesian constellations – a nice detail for your archive.

Alaska is also known for special liveries, such as a 737-900ER marking Boeing’s 100th birthday in 2016. How to track down such aircraft is shown in the guide Finding special liveries; the alliance designs are described in the article on Alliance liveries.

oneworld, partners and comparison

Alaska Airlines has been a member of oneworld since March 31, 2021, and Hawaiian joined in April 2026. That means the group works with, among others, American Airlines and the oneworld partners in Europe and Asia. How the three big alliances differ is explained in the article Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.

Compared with the big European groups such as Air France-KLM or International Airlines Group, Alaska Air Group is manageable in size. A look at Qantas Group, also in oneworld, is interesting: both combine a dense home network with Pacific long-haul. Orders go to Boeing, Hawaiian’s Airbus heritage comes from Airbus, and the regional jets come from Embraer.

Conclusion

In just a few years, Alaska Air Group has grown from a West Coast group into a company with a foothold in Hawaii and its own intercontinental long-haul network. For spotters, that has two sides: with Hawaiian came rare types like the 717 and striking liveries, while at the same time the shared code and shared callsign blur the lines between the brands. If you read tail, type and registration together, you can still assign every sighting cleanly – and you shouldn’t take too much time with the 717s anymore.