Horizon Air

History

Horizon Air was formed in May 1981 by Milt Kuolt, and started operations on September 1, 1981, with three Fairchild F-27 aircraft. Its headquarters were in an area that is now within SeaTac, Washington.

Horizon Air's first route was from Yakima to Seattle and one week later, Pasco to Seattle. The general offices of Horizon Air were operated out of an old house behind Sea-Tac airport. Horizon acquired Air Oregon on June 17, 1982, after both airlines were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly, in order to consolidate and reduce their operating deficit. Horizon agreed to purchase Transwestern Airlines of Utah in September 1983, once again to try to reduce operating deficit of the airline. A single Fokker F28 Fellowship twin jet, purchased in July 1984 from an African carrier, was the first jet owned by Horizon Air; however, their first jet was a wet leased Douglas DC-9-10. Additional Fokker F28s were leased from USAir during the mid-1990s. An initial public offering occurred in 1984 to secure operating capital, which after only one profitable year since founding, was needed to keep the airline afloat.

On September 8, 1985 Horizon signed an agreement with de Havilland Canada to begin purchasing the airline's first brand new aircraft, the de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 twin turboprop. In the summer of 1985, Horizon entered into its first codeshare agreement with United Airlines, which attracted the attention of Alaska Airlines, which struck a deal and acquired Horizon Air in November 1986, approved by the Transportation Department in late December.

Late in 1985 Horizon entered into an agreement to purchase their chief competitor in Washington, Cascade Airways, but by early 1986 were released from the agreement. In January 1986, the airline became an international carrier when it began service to Calgary, Alberta, in association with Cascade Airways. In 1988 Horizon signed a code share agreement with Northwest Airlines. Horizon then expanded its international service with flights to Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia in May 1989, using both Dash 8-100s and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner propjets.

Horizon was the launch customer for the Dornier 328 turboprop, intending to replace the Fairchild Metroliners with this new aircraft which promised jetliner speed and comfort. The second Dornier 328 prototype was painted in Horizon colors. Twelve were delivered between November 1993 and November 1995, but they were quickly phased out in 1997 in favor of fleet standardization of the Dash 8.

In the spring of 2007, Horizon launched service from Los Angeles and Seattle to Santa Rosa, California to take advantage of the burgeoning wine and tourism industry. The establishment of this route 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 nonstop service from Portland, OR to Santa Rosa, and expanded the schedule for nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Santa Rosa. It is wholly owned by the Alaska Air Group and has 4,040 employees (at March 2007).

In early 2011, Alaska Airlines' management took over decisions about Horizon's route choices and marketing. The Horizon Air brand was retired and all Horizon planes were repainted with Alaska Airlines' livery.

In May 2011, Alaska sold five of Horizon's Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet aircraft to SkyWest Airlines. SkyWest used the aircraft to operate six of Alaska Airlines' West Coast routes.

Destinations

Horizon's 47 destinations are located in the U.S. states of Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington as well as the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.

Fleet

The Horizon Air fleet comprises the following aircraft (as of August 2016):

Currently, the only aircraft operated by Horizon Air is the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400, a high speed, high-wing turboprop. The Q400 is operated in a single class configuration with 76 all leather seats. Each row on the aircraft has two seats on either side of the aisle and no middle seats.

New Embraer 175 regional jets will be added to the fleet in 2017.

Fleet history

Aircraft that have been in service with Horizon Air in the past are (in alphabetical order):

Livery

At the start of the carrier, Horizon had a painted sunrise with a small beach with capitalized words saying "Horizon". Until recently, the current Horizon Air livery was very similar to its parent, Alaska Airlines, except for a dark red (rather than blue) cheatline, and the tail includes a stylized sun and sunset logo, rather than an Eskimo. Eleven Q400s are currently painted in special liveries. Some Dash 8-100's and -200's (no longer in service with Horizon Air) had names of Horizon destinations preceded by "Great City of" or "Great Cities of" printed on the front of the airplane. The first Dash 8-100, N811PH was dedicated as the "Great Cities of Seattle/Tacoma" and the second airplane, N812PH was the "Great City of Portland". N824PH was dedicated as the "Great Cities of Pullman/Moscow" on one side and the "Great Cities of Moscow/Pullman" on the other side. N363PH (Dash-8-Q200) was the first airplane to incorporate the "deep bing cherry red" on the underside of the engine nacelle. This became the standard for Horizon's brand livery as well as the current Alaska Airlines livery. Prior to this change the underside of the nacelle was painted "Horizon White".

On January 25, 2011, Horizon Air announced it was retiring its public brand and adopted the trademark Eskimo of its sister company, Alaska Airlines, on its fleet. As part of the brand change, Horizon's Bombardier Q400 fleet has been repainted with a new paint scheme prominently featuring "Alaska" across the fuselage and the Eskimo on the tail. The plane continues to include a small Horizon logo on the sides of the aircraft, which now appears in Alaska's dark blue color.

Special liveries

Twelve Q400s are painted in special liveries, most featuring the colors and logos of universities located in the West Coast cities the carrier serves. These include:

Services

Many of the airline's services are the same as those offered by Alaska Airlines, which is Horizon Air's sister company.

On board services

Since 1991, Starbucks coffee is served in-flight on all Horizon Air flights. Horizon Air offers a variety of complimentary beverages including local microbrew's and wines.

Snacks & drinks available for purchase on select Q400 routes include: Northwest Deli, Mediterranean Tapas and the Kids Choice snack pack. Pringles and M&Ms are also available for purchase.

Liquors available for purchase on select Q400 Routes:

Horizon has set itself apart from its sister company and other airlines by offering, to passengers of age, free Northwest beer and wine.

Horizon also offers buy on board meal service limited to a variety of snack packs.

The E175 jets will offer Wi-Fi and in seat power.

Destinations in 1986

According to the Horizon Air route map dated January 5, 1986, the airline was serving the following destinations as an independent air carrier in association with Cascade Airways. Horizon Air then ceased its cooperative agreement with Cascade Airways early in 1986 and later that same year was acquired by Alaska Air Group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines.

In addition to turboprop aircraft, Horizon Air was operating Fokker F28 Fellowship jet aircraft at this time with F28 route examples including nonstop service between San Francisco and Sun Valley and also direct service between Seattle and Sun Valley via an intermediate stop in Boise during the 1986 winter ski season. The airline pioneered Sun Valley's first scheduled passenger jet service with the Fokker F28.

Accidents and incidents