Alaska Air Cargo
Volume 8  |  June 2018

Fill Our Bellies

More planes, more routes, more capacity.

Our new Airbus fleet is in operation this month, expanding our network to include 1,200+ daily flights to 100+ destinations in North and Central America. We now offer the most nonstop flights from the West Coast to Hawaii and Mexico of any U.S. airline.

Check out the daily departures from these major U.S locations.

City Daily Departures**
San Francisco Bay Area 124
Los Angeles Area 112
Intra-California 99
SAN 48
SJC 40
JFK 15
EWR 13
BOS 12
ORD 11

** Daily average for 2018

Alaska Air Cargo

Wild Alaskan salmon season is here! We’re proud to support the Alaska fishing industry.

We kicked off the Alaska seafood season with the traditional Copper River salmon run, out of Cordova, Alaska. The famous Copper River Salmon is the first salmon fishery to open in the state and is commemorated by the very first fish being flown to Seattle and hand-delivered to Seattle restaurant celebrity chefs for the annual Copper River cook-off. Go here to see more images from the event.

Alaska Air Cargo

Contract rates coming soon to online booking.

Starting later this June, when you log into your online booking portal, you will see, where applicable, your contract rates automatically displayed.

If you have a contract with Alaska Air Cargo, displayed rates will indicate “Contract Price” by the pertinent service type. This assures our shippers that your negotiated rates are being applied.

See More

Alaska Air Cargo

From left: Jeff Olver, Gunnery Sgt. Gonzales, Captain Tom Sharkey

Captain Tom Sharkey awarded Alaska Air’s Community Caring Award for his Toys for Tots Program.

In April of this year, Alaska Air’s Community Caring award was given to Alaska Airlines Captain Tom Sharkey in a ceremony at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Through Captain Sharkey’s leadership and efforts, Alaska Air Cargo’s Anchorage facility delivered more than 25,000 pounds of toys to 8,000 children in 25 Alaskan villages during the 2017 holiday season.

Each year, Alaska Air Cargo delivers toys (almost a freighter full) to hubs such as Kotzebue and Nome, where Marines load the toys onto sleds and tow them with snow machines to bush villages like Ambler, Noorvik and Buckland. The senior Marine officers dress like Santa Claus and bring the toys in Santa bags.

Alaska Airlines has supported Alaska Toys for Tots since 2006. Alaska Airlines Captain Tom Sharkey has coordinated the toy shipments from Anchorage to outlying communities. Captain Rex Gray and Captain Tom Sharkey originated the program when they teamed up to deliver toys to the remote village of Adak for eight years. The captains would decorate a 737 with garlands, lights and wreaths and, in addition to toys, had eggnog, pie, salmon and Christmas cookies on board. They wrapped presents on board in flight.

Captain Sharkey spends a lot of personal time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make sure toys are being delivered and no kid is left behind. “To be involved personally brings a joy to my heart, knowing a child will have a toy and experience a little bit of Christmas magic,” he said.

Partnering with Alaska Airlines, the Alaska Marines have sponsored toy drop boxes and toy collecting events throughout the state. Visit Alaska Toys for Tots on Facebook for more information and watch the video.

Alaska Air Cargo

State of Alaska seasonal service begins.

We are now flying our summer service schedule to the following communities:

Dillingham June 3 to August 22, 2018. Scheduled freighter service Monday, Wednesday, Saturday.
King Salmon June 3 to August 4, 2018. Passenger aircraft, belly cargo only. No scheduled freighters due to runway rehabilitation efforts.
Gustavus (Glacier Bay) June 3 to August 25, 2018. Inbound cargo only.

Cargo acceptance for all outbound stations begins June 1, 2018.

Customer Spotlight
Roger Manning, shown with his wife, Sandra

Roger Manning, shown with his wife, Sandra
CEO and Owner, Fishing Jim Seafood, New Orleans, LA

Roger Manning is the second-generation owner of Fishing Jim Seafood in the New Orleans area of Louisiana. Manning’s seafood company catches blue crab from the Gulf and distributes the product around the country.

Louisiana has 7,721 miles of shoreline, where fresh and salt water mix and provide the perfect habitat for the blue crab. And the state is the number one domestic supplier of blue crab in the nation. Forty-five million pounds of blue crab are landed in an average year, with an estimated $53 million dockside value. The blue crab fishery is the first and only to be certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

How did you get into the business? I’ve been doing it for 45 years. I started with my dad, who was a shrimp fisherman. We used to call him the original Forrest Gump. I started fishing at eight years old. It was hard work. I did not like getting up 3:30 am. At the age of nine, I started driving my dad’s truck to haul shrimp from the mouth of the bayou to various markets. And at 18, I went on my own. My son now manages the plant and the production, and maybe one of these days I can retire.

Where did the name Fishing Jim Seafood come from? Well, it’s kind of funny. My dad’s name was John, but he changed it to Jim. And even though I go by Roger, my first name is actually James. So there you have it.

What’s the market for blue crab? Blue crab is more of an specialty? product in the U.S. We ship a lot of product to California and the Pacific NW. The season is typically spring and early summer.

What’s your relationship with Alaska Air Cargo? I’ve used them on and off over the years. And I’m using them more lately to ship product to the West Coast. With blue crab, you’ve got to keep the product refrigerated and make sure there’s no problems on long flights. Alaska assured me they have the newest and best equipment for that, and after using them, I’m in full agreement. They take care of our product and I have lots of people I can call for help if I need it.

Are the additional flights from the Virgin acquisition going to help you? Yes! I am looking forward to June 19th, when the new flights are open, especially the nonstops from New Orleans to San Francisco. Michael Yu and Kathy Denker are keeping me informed about the expanded flights. That’s typical with Alaska. They are great with customer service; they really communicate well–everyone from the director to the call center folks. They are very helpful, and they go the extra mile for me.

Extra seafood cooler space in Juneau, Sitka and Seattle.

We are installing supplemental refrigerated units in Juneau, Sitka and Seattle to help handle the increase in seafood (and any other perishables) shipping for the summer season. These units are large enough to hold three entire igloos of products.

Alaska Air Cargo

Amazing freighter facts.

  • 20% more capacity for the state of Alaska compared to our fleet of combi aircraft.
  • 40,000 lbs of cargo capacity for each freighter, compared to 15,000 lbs for each combi aircraft.
  • Schedules can be operated independent of passenger flights, allowing us to add extra flights to support the seafood industry.
  • More reliable than our fleet of combi aircraft, the 737-700F fleet is approaching a dispatch reliability of 98%.
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