Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air 2007 Annual Report Download - page 129

Accomplishments
Accomplishments from 2007 include:
• Alaska marked its 75th anniversary with
several celebration events and the
unveiling of the “Starliner 75,” a new
Boeing 737-800 aircraft painted in a
vintage DC-3 livery.
• Horizon was named “2007 Regional
Airline of the Year” by Air Transport
World. The publication cited, among
other positive items, an exemplary safety
record, superior commitment to
customer service, and positive financial
results during challenging industry times.
• In October 2007, we reached another
website milestone by processing over
50% of our monthly sales through
alaskaair.com for the first time.
• Alaska initiated service to the Hawaiian
Islands in October 2007– something our
customers and employees had been
looking forward to for many years.
Horizon also began non-stop service
between Portland, Oregon and Santa
Rosa, California. Alaska and Horizon
have also initiated or announced
additional service in certain existing
markets or connected cities already
served with new non-stop service.
Common Stock Repurchase
In September 2007, our Board of Directors
authorized the Company to repurchase up to
$100 million of our common stock over a period
of twelve months. At December 31, 2007, we
had repurchased 2.6 million shares of common
stock for a total of $62.8 million. We believe this
repurchase program enhances shareholder value
and demonstrates our commitment to providing
investors a return on capital employed in our
business. The repurchased shares have been
recorded as treasury shares in our consolidated
balance sheet.
Airport of the Future
On October 16, 2007, we unveiled the first
phase of our patented “Airport of the Future” at
Seattle Tacoma International Airport. Once the
project is complete, additional facilities are
coming online in the first half of 2008, the
“Airport of the Future” will allow both Alaska and
Horizon customers to check in for their flights
and drop bags more quickly, improve our agents’
productivity, and allow us to handle more
customers without increasing our airport space.
We debuted this concept at the Ted Stevens
International Airport in Anchorage in 2004 and
since that time, customer wait times have been
reduced significantly.
Row 44
In September 2007, Alaska announced its plan
to launch in-flight wireless Internet service in
2008 based on Row 44, Inc.’s satellite-based
broadband connectivity solution. We plan to test
the system on Alaska’s aircraft in the first half of
2008. If the test is successful, we plan to equip
all of our aircraft at Alaska with this equipment.
This technology will provide customers with a
unique entertainment and business network in
the air. Passengers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices –
such as laptop computers, PDAs, smart phones
and portable gaming systems – will have high-
speed access to the Internet, e-mail, virtual
private networks and stored in-flight
entertainment content.
Hawaiian Vacations
During the third quarter of 2007, Alaska
announced the acquisition of certain assets of
Hawaiian Vacations Inc., an Anchorage-based
company that charters aircraft and markets
package tours to the Hawaiian Islands. The
acquisition of these assets will help accelerate
our entrance into the Anchorage-Honolulu
market, which began December 9, 2007 with
one daily round trip.
Q400 Landing Gear Inspections
On September 12, 2007, Horizon temporarily
grounded 19 of its 33 Bombardier Q400
turboprops as a precautionary measure following
an all-operator message from Bombardier
Aerospace of Canada. On September 13, in
response to a Transport Canada airworthiness
directive (AD), Horizon grounded its entire Q400
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ŠForm 10-K