Alaska Airlines was one of the airlines that took the post-deregulation era by the scruff of the neck and ran with it. Unlike the majority of its competitors it has survived too. In the early 80s Alaska expanded into the lower 48 with an eye focused on California. For that it needed more aircraft and that briefly included a bright orange 727.
There are still some surprises collecting 400 scale. I had never seen this model before and it wasn’t in the databases either, but it wonderfully captures a short period it saw in operation with Alaska Airlines.
I have covered Alaska’s big break into the lower 48 previously here at the avhistory blog so for that post check here:
In 1980 Alaska was still a small airline, one that had been largely run on a shoestring throughout its history. It was certainly an unlikely candidate for success in the deregulated world. The fleet stood at 8 727-100s and 4 brand new 727-290s. A trio of 737-290Cs were on order but the first wouldn’t arrive until May 1981.
Alaska obviously had a decent relationship with CP Air as they had managed to enter the Seattle-San Francisco market only by using one of their gates at the international terminal. With limited cash for more new aircraft Alaska supported its expanding operation with leased jets. In my other post I discuss the 6 727-22s they leased from United during the summers of 1980 and 81, but I hadn’t focused on the 727-217 they leased from CP Air from May 1982 until September 1982.
CP Air was struggling with the impact of the 1979 OPEC oil crisis and was trying to streamline its fleet. Its 767 order was deferred and then replaced with 737-300s (which themselves barely saw service). The 727 never seems to have been a good fit for the airline and the 7 year old fleet of 4 727-17s were sold in 1977. That still left a pair of 727-217 Advanceds that had been delivered only in 1975 – C-GCPA and GCPB.
The 727-217s were used exclusively on the Los Angeles and San Francisco routes, but obviously without the 727-17s were odd fixtures in the fleet. Both were removed from service in 1981 and made available for sale. Alaska looking for extra summer capacity and no doubt utilising its relationship with CP took GCPB ‘Empress of Los Angeles’ on lease for 4 months. With such a short lease the CP Air livery was retained with just Alaska titles being added to the lower fuselage. The CP Air titles remained but were half removed – still readable but rather washed out. This look is surprisingly replicated on the model. Here’s another image of C-GCPB just prior to the lease commencing.
