Alaska Air Cargo
Volume 5  |  November 2017

New Freighters are Flying

Alaska Air Cargo

New freighters are flying.

The first of three new 737-700 freighters entered service in September, and is flying primarily in southeast Alaska, the Arctic, and Seattle. The second freighter will arrive this month (November), and the third shortly after. As soon as all planes are airborne, we will add more service to our current schedule.

The new 737-700 freighters are the first ever to be converted from passenger jet to cargo plane. They give us 15% more overall capacity than the current combi fleet, plus increased payload of up to 42,000 pounds. Plus a greater range of cargo types, including oversized items.

Famous combi planes are officially retired.

On October 18, Alaska Airlines’ unique cargo-passenger “combi” planes were officially retired. For more than half a century the Boeing 737-400 combis served the wild and woolly needs of the Alaska frontier, carrying everything from cows to cars to crabs to kids. Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senator from Alaska, said, “It’s really the end of an era. The combis were designed for the special challenges of a very large state, and over their life span they have delivered every imaginable thing via airplane in Alaska.”

See More

Easy online booking now available.

With our new cloud-based booking portal, you can log in to access space availability and schedules, book your shipments, and create air waybills. All via a single screen, pre-loaded with IATA regulatory and commodity codes.

Book Now

New low pricing in Alaska.

Cargo rates for Alaska have been reduced by 30–40% in some areas, and up to 50% in others. Additionally, the new rates are simpler, with a single, one-price structure – no matter the weight of your shipment. Please call 1-800-2ALASKA or click below to learn more.

Learn More

Customer Spotlight
Richard Baker, Owner of Baker Construction, Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska

Richard Baker
Owner of Baker Construction, Utqiaġvik (Barrow),* Alaska

Baker Construction is a general, mechanical, and electrical contractor working throughout the North Slope region, including all of the villages. The company does residential, commercial, and industrial work.

Richard Baker lives and works in Barrow year-round, 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle and the northernmost settlement in the U.S. In the winter months, the area experiences two months a year of total darkness, with average low temperatures of 20 below zero F.

Richard ships over a million pounds a year of cargo on Alaska Air Cargo.

*Barrow officially voted to change its name in December 2016 to the native name Utqiaġvik. There is currently some conversation and controversy regarding changing it back. For the purposes of this story, we are using the easier-to-pronounce “Barrow.”

For an interesting look at what the name Utqiaġvik means, and how to pronounce it, please go to this website.

How do you get building materials into the Arctic? There are no roads; you cannot ‘drive’ to Barrow. So, getting things up here is a unique and ongoing challenge. We get one big barge a year from Seattle and some smaller barges from Prudhoe Bay, usually in August. And the rest of the year we rely on air freight. Barrow is the main hub for the entire North Slope area. Everything that comes into Barrow — all food, all mail, all building supplies, everything — is shipped by air.

What’s it like being in the construction industry in the far north? Well, the entire North Slope is on tundra, so the building seasons are reversed. In the Lower 48, foundation work, for example, is done in the warmer months. Up here it’s the opposite. We can only drill into the tundra when it’s frozen, typically starting in late November. In the warmer months, it’s a swamp. Not only can we not drill into it, but the big rigs required to set pilings would get stuck and destroy the fragile tundra. We try to save above-ground work, like framing, for the summer. We do work year-round, but when it gets to 30 below it’s hard on equipment. Due to the harsh environment and changes in climate, buildings need constant repair, so you have to be adaptable. We have a saying in the North Slope: “If we waited for good weather, we would never get anything done.”

What options are there for air freight? There are two options for air cargo. And I ship as much as I possibly can with Alaska Air Cargo. Alaska’s people are genuine, and they honestly care about their customers. When you have Alaska’s Steve Carlisle texting my personal cell phone and saying, “Hey, we got a freighter in, your shipment is arriving,” it shows they are interested in my welfare. They do their best to take care of my freight to make sure it doesn’t get damaged. And when there is an issue, they work it out with me.

How critical is getting timely freight in the bush? The way I build homes up here doesn’t change much. The only real variable is getting the materials, that’s the “live-and-die” aspect of working in the bush. If the freight doesn’t arrive, jobs shut down. The timeliness of your freight determines whether you will be a successful company or not.

How does Alaska Air Cargo rate for timeliness? They’re great. If they have to, Alaska staff will personally make sure freight gets on a plane. I’ll give you an example: We install boilers in homes for heat. And if a boiler breaks down, there is no heat, which up here on the North Slope is critical. An entire home can freeze up and cause thousands of dollars in damage. We recently had to replace two boilers in a duplex, and Alaska pulled out all the stops to get them on a plane the next day. So we were able to install them before the house froze up.

How important is Alaska Airlines to the North Slope communities? Alaska Airlines flies in and out of Barrow safely when no one else can fly. Alaska can operate in bad weather, due, I believe, to their unique avionics systems. They take care of both passengers and freight with excellent customer service. I think the community is really grateful and is going to support Alaska in their expanded cargo endeavor.

Alaska Air Cargo

Self-service pickup is live in Seattle.

You can now use our new “EZ Pick-Up,” a self-service pickup option in Seattle that eliminates waiting in lines. Simply use the tablets located in the cargo lobby to log your air waybill number, print your receipt, and proceed directly to the cargo warehouse to pick up your shipment. (A bonus: Our facility is now open for self-service from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.) EZ Pick-Up is especially helpful for repeat customers, who are saving an average of 15 minutes per trip. Customers are eligible for EZ Pick-Up as long as shipments are prepaid and not international.

Alaska Air Cargo

New cargo routes.

We continue to expand across the U.S., with 40 new routes in 2017. These are the most recent city pairs we’ve started and are now available for cargo service.

San Francisco (SFO) – Kansas City (MCI) Daily
Portland (PDX) – Detroit (DTW) Daily
San Diego (SAN) – Austin (AUS) Daily
San Diego (SAN) – Omaha (OMA) Daily
San Jose (SAN) – Austin (AUS) Daily
Portland (PDX) – New York (JFK) Daily

Join us at these upcoming events.

PACIFIC MARINE EXPO
What: The largest commercial marine trade show on the West Coast.
When: November 16–18, 2017
Where: Seattle, WA, at CenturyLink Field Events Center
Us: Booth #4231
Website: pacificmarineexpo.com

ALASKA RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL CONFERENCE
What: Statewide business association event comprising individuals and companies from Alaska’s oil and gas, mining, forest products, tourism, and fisheries industries, whose purpose is to encourage a strong, diversified private sector in Alaska.
When: November 15–16, 2017
Where: Anchorage, AK, at the Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center
Website: akrdc.org/conference

Previous Issues
Related
Newsletter

Keep up to date! Subscribe to our quarterly online newsletter.