'Salmon-Thirty-Salmon' delivers exactly that

Posted by Tom on Tuesday, May 15, 2007
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Edit (or Correction, not Perfection): TAB reader Cromely has pointed out that the freighter wasn't the one in the Salmon paint scheme but instead a converted freighter in regular livery. You can read the rest of his post here. The corrected post:

Alaska Airlines' famed 'Salmon-Thirty-Salmon', with a 120-foot long salmon painted on its fuselage, was met at Seattle-Tacoma Airport this morning by a Boeing 737-400 freighter carrying over 32,000 pounds of Copper River salmon onboard. Throughout the day, according to the company, Alaska will deliver over 160,000 pounds of Copper River salmon throughout the country on eight flights from Cordova, AK to Seattle, where the fish will then be flown out throughout the country.

Up until recently Alaska has relied on Boeing 737-200s to haul freight, but they were getting expensive (both in terms of fuel costs and maintenance), so with those gone, and newer Boeing 737s on order, Alaska was able to convert the -400s into freighters.

2 comments:

Cromely said...

Actually, they are two separate aircraft. The Salmon-Thirty-Salmon (N792AS)is still a passenger only aircraft. They apparently drove it out to meet the 737-400 cargo plane (N709AS) that flew down with the fish.

"The fish-filled freighter was greeted by Alaska's "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon," a 737-400 passenger aircraft painted with a 120-foot-long image of an Alaska king salmon. The World Famous Pike Place Fish Market's fishmongers ceremonially tossed the first fish off the aircraft before they were presented to waiting fish processors."
http://www.alaskasworld.com/newsroom/asnews/asstories/AS_20070515_074628.asp

It's a great looking plane. The last time I flew on it, they were passing out commemorative bookmarks, too.

The freight-only 737-400 also saw service as an AS passenger plane before the refit.

AS is alos converting several older 737-400 passenger only aircraft in to 737-400 combi aircraft to accomdate both passengers and pallets. They are replacing the 737-200combis you can sometimes see at SEA.

I spend way too much time on airplanes...

May 15, 2007 at 3:32:00 PM EDT
Tom said...

Thanks for the clarification, Cromely! I believe that the 737-400C models are to replace the 737-200C models, which are used extensively on routes between Seattle and Alaska and on inter-Alaskan routes.

And by the way... one can't spend too much time on airplanes!

May 15, 2007 at 3:37:00 PM EDT

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