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)…
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?