Alaska Airlines has been flying for the past 94 years, but it wasn’t until today that the Seattle-based carrier released its first-ever safety video, which will debut on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
Until now, there was simply no need for Alaska Airlines to have a safety video. In fact, the airline didn’t have anything to play a safety video on. The airline has never had seatback screens, so manual safety demonstrations have always been required.
That, however, all changed when Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines and formed the Alaska Airlines Group. As part of the merger, Alaska Airlines has taken over Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet to build its own long-haul international network.
Now, Alaska Airlines has planes with seatback screens, and with a new seasonal route to Rome set to launch on Tuesday (Alaska’s first time to fly to Europe), it seems like a pretty appropriate moment to finally create a bespoke safety video for the carrier.
The safety video features real Alaska Airlines employees who took part in a casting call for a chance to appear in the video. Over 1,200 employees took part in the casting call, although the team behind the video had to whittle down that number to 100 employees to appear in the final video.
The video itself is professional and well-paced, but fairly typical of the kinds of safety videos created by other airlines in recent years.
Think of it as a celebration of Alaska’s hometown of Seattle and the global destinations that it will serve, including Tokyo, Seoul, Rome, and London, as well as destinations like Sydney, Australia, which aren’t currently served by the airline.
Clocking in at just over six minutes, it’s relatively long, and this can be put down to Alaska Airlines’ decision to turn the video into a destination highlight reel. In contrast, Australian flag carrier Qantas recently ditched this type of safety video for a back-to-basics demonstration, which lasts for a mercifully short 3 minutes and 58 seconds.
As well as being played on Alaska’s new long-haul flights between Seattle and Rome, it will feature of Boeing 787 flights to Seoul Incheon, South Korea, and Tokyo Narita, Japan, as well as London Heathrow from May 21.
Alaska Airlines will also launch a new summer seasonal route to Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 28, but this will be served on a Boeing 737, so a manual safety demonstration will be performed.
Although Alaska Airlines is currently using ex-Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliners, Alaska Airlines has painted the planes in its new ‘global’ livery, which features a paint scheme based on the Northern Lights.
Along with Alaska’s first-ever safety video, the airline will also play a short welcome video from chief executive Ben Minicucci on its Boeing 787 fleet… again, another first for the airline.
