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Horizon Air

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Horizon Air

IATA QX	ICAO QXE	Callsign HORIZON AIR
Founded		1981
Hubs		Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Portland International Airport Los Angeles International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Mileage Plan
Member lounge		Board Room
Fleet size		71
Destinations		51
Parent company		Alaska Air Group
Headquarters		SeaTac, Washington
Key people		Jeff Pinneo (CEO)
Website: http://www.horizonair.com

Horizon Air is a regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. ^[1] It is the eighth largest regional airline in the USA serving 46 cities in the USA and Canada. Its main hub is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with smaller hubs at Portland International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.^[2] 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. Horizon has also announced that CommutAir will sub-lease 16 of its Dash 8 Q-200 aircraft also beginning next year. ^[3]

History

Horizon Air was formed in May 1981 and started operations on 1 September 1981. Its first route was from Seattle to Yakima, Washington. 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.

It is wholly owned by the Alaska Airlines Group and has 4,040 employees (at March 2007).^[2] Horizon Air has been featured in several films, including the 1983 motion picture WarGames.

Destinations

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article. ()

Canada

Alberta

British Columbia

United States

California

Colorado

Denver (Denver International Airport)

Idaho

Montana

Nevada

Oregon

Washington

Mexico

Baja California Sur

Loreto, Baja California Sur (Loreto International Airport) [begins January 19]

Livery

The Q400 in anniversary colors at SeaTac 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 also have logos on their sides that says names of cities like North Bend or Coos Bay. 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.

CRJ College Livery

Incidents and accidents

Since the founding, no fatal accidents have occurred.

April 15 1988, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 crashed after declaring an emergency landing in Seattle, Washington when the engine lost power after take-off. The plane soon crashed into jetways, and was destroyed by fire. All 40 people survived.^[4]

Fleet

Horizon CRJ-700 in Denver

Horizon Air's fleet includes the following aircraft (as of November 2007) ^[5] :

The average Horizon Air fleet age is 5.6 years old in March 2006.^[6] The CRJ-700 is a 70-seat, low-wing jet, while the Dash-8 is a 37 (Q200) or 74 (Q400) seat, high-wing turboprop. Horizon Air recently converted its outstanding CRJ orders into Q400 orders. Horizon also plans to phase out all Q200 planes and replace them with Q400s.^[7]