Mickey Mouse Launches Alaska Airlines' New Service Between Calgary and Los Angeles

Mickey Mouse Launches Alaska Airlines' New Service Between Calgary and Los Angeles

In town from Disneyland Resort, Mickey Mouse cut a ceremonial ribbon at Calgary International Airport today (2/9) to launch Alaska Airlines' first flight from Calgary to Los Angeles.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines enters the Calgary market with one daily nonstop flight each way between the two cities.

Assisting Mickey Mouse at the ceremonies this morning were David Palmer, assistant vice president of marketing of Alaska Airlines, Bruno Jauering, director of sales and marketing, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts (Canada), Craig Burrows, deputy mayor of Calgary and Garth Atkinson, president and chief executive officer of the Calgary Airport Authority.

"Whether their flights are for business or pleasure, we want to provide Albertans great value, outstanding service and convenient access to Southern California and its many outstanding attractions. Those attractions obviously include one of the world's finest family vacation destinations, Disneyland Resort," said Palmer.

"We are thrilled with Alaska Airlines' new direct route to Los Angeles as it makes the magical Disneyland Resort an even closer, more convenient vacation destination for Albertans," said Jauering.

Alaska's daily nonstop flight departs Calgary at 7:15 a.m. and arrives in Los Angeles at 9:18 a.m. The daily northbound flight departs Los Angeles at 7:51 p.m. and arrives at 11:57 p.m. Alaska is operating 140-seat Boeing MD-80 aircraft on the route, configured with 12 seats in first class and 128 in coach.

The service is also well timed to provide convenient connections to the carrier's Mexican resort destinations - Cancun, Los Cabos, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo - as well as the Southern California cities of San Diego, Palm Springs, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara.

Alaska Airlines, celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2002, is the ninth largest commercial air carrier in the United States. The airline operates a fleet of 102 Boeing 737 and MD-80 jets, a fleet that ranks among the youngest of all major U.S. carriers.

Consistently recognized for customer service in passenger surveys, Alaska has been rated recently as the best major U.S. carrier by the highly respected Zagat Airline Survey. That recognition came on the heels of a similar accolade from the readers of Travel+Leisure magazine which named Alaska the "World's Best Domestic Airline."

--Posted February 11, 2002

Source: Alaska Airlines Press Release