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If you've never been to an aircraft livery reveal, it's a true sight to behold. On January 7th at the Boeing Delivery Center in Seattle, Alaska Airlines revealed its new global livery to the world. At the same time, they announced a massive order of new airplanes to make their fleet one of the youngest in the United States.
Here's our report from the unveiling ceremony.
Alaska Airlines' New Global Livery
The brand new Boeing 787-9 and its new Aurora Borealis paint job were revealed to a group of employees, staff, media, and government officials. Utilizing a new aircraft painting technology, it took artists nearly 1,000 manhours across 13 days to paint the aircraft exterior from nose to tail.
At the event, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said:
“As we evolve to meet the needs of our globe-trotting guests, we are proud to introduce a new, global livery for the Alaska brand. The design is a tribute to Alaska’s rich history and a reflection of our bold vision for international growth and our commitment to connect the Pacific Northwest to the world.”
Huge Order of New Airplanes
Currently, Alaska Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the United States, and according to Minicucci, Alaska Airlines is the 15th largest in the world. In order to keep this growth going, they're going to need new airplanes.
Alaska placed an order for 105 Boeing 737-10 aircraft (with the option to switch to -8 or -9 depending on needs) and 5 more 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft. This means that they'll have 17 wide body aircraft in the fleet, allowing them to hit their goal of 12 international destinations by 2030.
For those that love Chester on the tail of the existing Alaska Airlines aircraft, he's not going anywhere. He'll still continue to be a mainstay on domestic routes, while the global livery will be seen mostly on their international 787 Dreamliners.
According to Minicucci, the majority of the Airbus A321s will operate routes to Hawaii from the mainland, and the A330 will service Hawaiian routes out of Honolulu and heavy-load routes from the mainland to the islands.
Alaska Expanding Its International Presence
A goal of a dozen international destinations is an ambitious push, but Alaska executives seem ready for the challenge. Following the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska's goal has been to introduce new routes from Seattle with this new fleet of Dreamliners.
Currently, Alaska has international routes either in service or announced include:
- London Heathrow, daily year-round service as of May 21, 2026
- Rome, Italy, daily summer seasonal flights as of April 28, 2026
- Reykjavik, Iceland: Daily, summer seasonal flights beginning May 28, 2026 (operated on a 737-8 MAX)
- Tokyo Narita, Japan: Daily, year-round flights already in service
- Seoul Incheon, South Korea: five-times-weekly, year-round flights already in service
Rumors are all over the map for the new routes from Seattle. Personally, I'd love to see some innovation in new destinations. Wouldn't it be cool to have routes from Seattle to Lima, Madrid, Bangkok, and perhaps Auckland? What about Marrakech, Buenos Aires, Papeete, or Beijing? There are dozens of new and unique options with the new 787-10 Dreamliners and existing 787-9 already in the fleet
Bottom Line
This week's event wasn't just about a new paint job and a pretty new livery; it was a doubling down of Alaska Airlines' commitment to travelers in the Pacific Northwest and Boeing as its airplanes of choice to take its passengers to destinations all over the world.
Consequently, Minicucci believes that Alaska should be the airline passengers think of when they want to fly to long-haul destinations out of Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest. We should see a slew of new destinations coming in hot over the next couple of years, and we're excited to see what's to come.
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