Alaska Airlines has just debuted its first safety video in its 94 year history, and there are some noteworthy things about it (thanks to Lester for flagging this)…
In this post:
Alaska’s new Boeing 787 safety video now screening
In recent times, we’ve seen Alaska Airlines commence long haul flights out of Seattle (SEA), which is made possible by Alaska Air Group’s acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. Specifically, Alaska is acquiring Boeing 787s (some from Hawaiian, and some new), with the goal of serving a dozen global destinations out of Seattle by 2030.
Up until recently, Alaska only operated narrow body planes, and none of those have seat back TVs. Therefore in its entire history, the airline never had a safety video on its own branded aircraft… until now.
Alaska’s new safety video is now being shown on seat back TVs on all 787 flights. The video has a global theme and features over 100 Alaska employees, highlighting Seattle, as well as the destinations the airline flies to, which is a common direction airlines take with safety videos nowadays.
That’s not all, though. On long haul flights out of Seattle, Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci is now featured in a welcome video. This is specifically about the 787 and Alaska’s global growth ambitions, so it’s not quite as much of a pep talk as you’ll get from Delta CEO Ed Bastian, about how you’re in the presence of greatness when you step onboard a Delta plane.
Did Alaska hint at a new destination in the safety video?
As you can see, the safety video cuts between showcasing Seattle, and promoting global destinations. The video features London, Rome, Japan (not Tokyo, but Mount Fuji), Seoul, and… Sydney?!
One of those isn’t like the other one, as Alaska doesn’t actually fly to Sydney (Hawaiian does, but that’s not relevant to this). Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I have a hard time imagining that Alaska is just adding random cities to the video, and instead, I suspect this reflects that this will be one of the carrier’s next long haul destinations out of Seattle.
That’s not terribly surprising, though Seattle doesn’t have the same advantageous geography for flights across the South Pacific as it does for flights across the North Pacific, especially when you consider where people are connecting from. But still, it seems not at all surprising that Sydney would be in the pipeline.
Make of it what you will, but in an Alaska Air Group Investor Day presentation in 2024, the airline highlighted some long haul destinations it’s most likely to add, and you can find that below.
Bottom line
Alaska Airlines has just released its first safety video, which is being screened on Boeing 787 flights out of Seattle. The video promotes Seattle and the carrier’s long haul destinations, and I think it’s well done and pleasant, without being anything too memorable. To me, the most interesting thing is how it features Sydney, a destination Alaska doesn’t fly to… yet.
What do you make of Alaska’s new Boeing 787 safety video?
Fun fact: Tim Dunn does the voiceover for Ed Bastian in Delta’s safety video
SYD is almost certainly next up, and it would make a ton of sense for Alaska to start it in the fall when their seasonal FCO service winds down. JV or not, they have a strong partnership with Qantas and already carry lots of connecting passengers over LAX and SFO. SEA is the glaring hole in the TPAC route network there. Wouldn't be surprised if it's announced tomorrow alongside the Europe inaugural
Having been born and brought up (mostly) in Alaska (hence the frozen half of the kiwi name)… I’m really disappointed that ALASKA airlines didn’t showcase one Alaskan destination. I know the 787 won’t be flying via ANC, but still… it’s in the name!
There are Alaska Airlines billboards all over Seattle, showing kangaroos. They've been up for months. Not exactly a secret for anyone paying attention and with two brain cells to rub together.
You are over thinking it.
The video works but was very milquetoast. I miss Virgin.
I can't get past the grammatical error in that slide title. What exactly are they trying to say with "than SFO and LAX"? Ugh.
Alaska at their investor day said they aim for 12 long haul destinations by 2030. This map shows 10. So any guesses yet on the other 2?
Based on imagery I've seen used in Alaska marketing materials, I suspect Bali is one of them. Ssshhhhh.
That would be way cool.
Could the addition of Sydney cannibalize some of the thru-HNL traffic that Hawaiian has?
They likely need to fly there from the mainland if they want to join the AA/QF JV. If you recall from years and years ago, AA and QF tried a Joint Venture before AA flew to Australia (at the time) and the DOT basically said "why do you need this? AA doesn't even fly to Australia".
Hawaii is already carved out of the AA/QF JV and likely will remain so in the future since...
They likely need to fly there from the mainland if they want to join the AA/QF JV. If you recall from years and years ago, AA and QF tried a Joint Venture before AA flew to Australia (at the time) and the DOT basically said "why do you need this? AA doesn't even fly to Australia".
Hawaii is already carved out of the AA/QF JV and likely will remain so in the future since there's no competition between Hawaii and Australia except HA/AS and QF owned carriers and since it would make adding a carrier even more incrementally difficult to also add a new geography to the JV.
I really enjoyed my daytime flight on HNL-Australia in the past, but I'm likely in the minority in terms of customer preference.
"so it’s not quite as much of a pep-talk as you’ll get from Delta CEO Ed Bastian, about how you’re in the presence of greatness when you step onboard a Delta plane."
lol. This was a good laugh