Alaska Airlines has revealed the only King Salmon with an FAA tail number.
Less than five months after announcing the new design, Alaska Airlines late Thursday unveiled one of its Boeing 737-800 (N559AS) painted to resemble the Alaskan state fish. Not only is salmon big business for the state of Alaska, but Alaska Airlines hauls tons of the stuff: 24 million pounds last year, to be exact.
“Salmon-Thirty-Salmon II” marks the second time Alaska Airlines has painted a plane in cooperation with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). In 2005, an Alaska 737-400 (N792AS) debuted as the first “Salmon-Thirty-Salmon”. That plane was repainted to the normal Alaska livery earlier this year, to the chagrin of planespotters nationwide.
But Salmon Thirty Salmon II is in even bigger catch. The 737-800 is about 9-feet longer than the original and nearly 10-tons heavier. It also has an extra 200 cubic feet of cargo space that it can fill with delicious salmon for delivery to your favorite sushi spot.
Alaska says it is the most intricately painted aircraft in the world, and reading the details of how they created this thing, we can’t think of anything in the sky that comes close. While the design is very similar to the original Salmon-Thirty-Salmon, Associated Painters Inc. in Oklahoma City this time used even more colors and reflective mylar paint to make the fish appear even more three-dimensional and realistic.
Salmon-Thirty-Salmon II by the numbers:
Colors: 125
Fish scales: 3,468
Masking tape: 60,480 feet
Painters: 8
Time: Around the clock for 27 days
If your favorite airport is served by Alaska Airlines 737-800s, get your cameras ready, as the plane is scheduled to circulate throughout the airline’s network.
An Alaska Airlines pilot pokes his head out of the only salmon with an FAA tail number: N559AS. (Photo by Alaska Airlines)
Even the winglets on Salmon Thirty Salmon II are covered in scales. (Photo by Alaska Airlines)
