 |
Horizon Celebrates 20 Years in Bellingham, Announcing Plans to Use Larger Aircraft for All Flights
|
2/21/2007 8:46 a.m.
|
BELLINGHAM, WASH. — Horizon Air will celebrate 20 years of service to Bellingham International Airport tomorrow in a big way – by announcing plans to operate all flights with larger aircraft, increasing seats to Seattle by 50 percent.
Starting March 18, Horizon will replace four flights operated with Bombardier 37-seat Q200s with three operated with 74- to 76-seat Bombardier Q400s. On April 22, the remaining four Q200 flights will be replaced with three Q400 flights. From that point forward, there will be six daily flights.
"We've grown along with Bellingham over the past 20 years, and we're excited to mark the anniversary of our service to the city by rolling out these plans," said Patrick Zachwieja, Horizon vice president of marketing and planning. "The increased capacity will significantly increase our ability to meet the local demand for our services. That falls in line with our business philosophy, which focuses on taking care of customers in our own backyard before pursuing other expansion opportunities."
Horizon started serving Bellingham on Feb. 22, 1987, with five daily flights using 18-seat Metroliners, and it flew 15,418 passengers that first year. Since then, Horizon has served Bellingham longer than any other airline, flying more than 1.13 million passengers to and from the airport.
"It is our pleasure to be able to celebrate this wonderful milestone with Horizon," said Bellingham Airport Manager Art Choat. "Horizon has been as much a partner to this community as we have been to them for their business. We're very excited to be one of the first cities receiving more Q400 service, and we look forward to another 20 years of growth together."
The Port of Bellingham will celebrate the 20th anniversary with a public celebration at the airport from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22. Horizon will make a special presentation to the mayor of Bellingham and port officials. The port will provide refreshments and Soft Rock KAFE 104.3 will broadcast live. Horizon has donated four roundtrip tickets to be given away at a drawing for attendees.
Named 2007 Regional Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine, Horizon today serves 48 cities throughout California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and British Columbia and Alberta. Together, Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines serve 89 cities and are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK).
|
|
|
