August promises to be the most information-packed of the Alaska-Hawaiian integration process. However, the first chunk to be released, which included the unveiling of the new Alaska Air 787 livery alongside the announcement of two new routes, leaves more questions than answers.
On Monday, August 4, 2025, Alaska Air posted a cryptic animation featuring the aurora borealis to its social media channels, pointing to a large announcement on August 5. Theories were abundant, with the leading ones being the announcement of the new, unified loyalty program or news of a new route to Iceland. Well, one of those points ended up being true!
New Alaska Air 787 Livery
For what it’s worth, I was thinking that the announcement was going to be the unified loyalty program. I was, unfortunately, wrong. However, a new Alaska Air 787 livery wasn’t something I even considered as a possibility. And yet, here we are. From Alaska Air directly:
[A]n evolution of the Alaska brand that reflects a bold vision for international growth and our commitment to connecting the Pacific Northwest to destinations around the world. It starts with the striking exterior design – the livery – where the Alaska name remains but with an all-new look and feel. The 787-9s with the new livery debut in January. By spring, all Dreamliners in our fleet are scheduled to showcase the new design.
The Alaska Native on Alaska narrowbody aircraft and Pualani on all Hawaiian Airlines’ aircraft flying to, from, and within the Hawaiian Islands are not going away. They will remain unchanged as essential elements of our brands’ legacies and history.
There’s A LOT to unpack there. First and foremost, the new Alaska Air 787 livery is precisely that – a Dreamliner-specific livery designed to convey international growth and further promote Alaska Air as a premium airline. Only, that means Alaska Air Group will have two brands (since Horizon operates under the Alaska Air brand) with three different liveries. As a marketer with branding experience, I question the thought process that went on here.
The “Alaska Native,” more commonly known as Chester, is the face of Alaska Air, much in the way that Pualani is for Hawaiian. Each is instantly recognizable. So, why, then, did they think it necessary to develop this third livery? Sure, the design is “nice,” and sort of utilizes Alaska Air’s existing brand colors, but it also creates confusion and dilutes the brand.
Looking at it from another angle, Chester is Alaska Air’s social media profile image, same as Pualani for Hawaiian. You can’t do that with this abstract Aurora Borealis design. But, I imagine Chester will remain the face of the airline, as he’s remaining on the tails of the 737 and Embraer fleets. So, again, why the hell was a third livery needed? I’m sure most won’t bat an eye when going to board their flight. However, from a marketing and branding perspective, this all just unnecessary and confusing. At least, in my opinion.
Now, Cranky Flier was able to talk to Alaska Air’s Vice President of Brand & Marketing, Eric Edge. From that conversation, Cranky came away with the following:
Alaska will continue to have its core product with no change in livery on the existing fleet. This will just be for the B787-9s flying long-haul operations from Seattle. It’s meant to show that the product is going to be more premium.
Again, I get what they’re trying to do here. However, if they genuinely wanted to differentiate the experience, shouldn’t they have developed a third brand altogether to do so?
787 Fleet Disposition
We’ve known for some time now that all 787s would ultimately end up with Alaska Air branding. What we didn’t know, though, was what the timing would look like. Thus far, four Dreamliners have been delivered to Hawaiian – N780HA through N783HA. One more is due later this year or early next year, with the sixth one following sometime mid-2026ish.
Earlier, I theorized that the notional N784HA would be the final one delivered in Hawaiian’s livery, especially since the interior cannot be changed at this point. Well, it appears I’m wrong, as Alaska Air has stated that the new Alaska Air 787 livery will debut on a 787 in January, which lines up with N784HA’s estimated delivery timeline. That also begs the question, though, if she’ll carry a Hawaiian registration or move to an Alaska one? The above photo alludes to the fact that it will have a Hawaiian registration, though the registration number is out of sequence.
For the interior, it does look like they’re keeping Hawaiian’s interiors for now and will utilize different mood lighting colors. I suspect minor things like signage onboard the aircraft will be swapped out sooner rather than later, too.
Now, as you’ll note above, AAG states that all Dreamliners will sport the new Alaska Air 787 livery by Spring 2026. That’s very quick! If you want to catch a 787 adorned with Pualani, you don’t have much time left to do so. But, you know, they still won’t have Starlink… The 787 hasn’t received supplement type certification for Starlink yet, and current estimates say the TCS will be granted in Q3 2026.
The A330
This is the second or third time in the past month or so that Alaska Air has brought up the A330 fleet. But, instead of burying it at the bottom of another announcement, they put it at the top of the page announcing the new Alaska Air 787 livery:
On the horizon, a new onboard global experience for the 787-9s based in Seattle and Hawaiian Airlines-branded Airbus 330 widebody aircraft based in Honolulu
Then, further down, they say the following:
Our Airbus 330 widebody aircraft will remain dedicated to international long-haul and Continental U.S. flying to and from Hawaiʻi, operated by Hawaiian Airlines from our second-largest hub in Honolulu. To enhance the travel experience for our guests, we are making substantial investments to the onboard experience over the next few years, including all-new interiors with updated lie-flat seats, a new premium economy cabin, and upgraded main cabin seats. New premium products and amenities will match the exceptional service provided by our flight attendants.
So, to all those saying that AAG is going to stop international flying from Hawai’i, that is not the current plan. However, the more interesting bit, to me, is that first statement. Does that suggest that the new A330 business class seats will be more in line with what’s installed on the 787s? Remember, though a quasi-Boeing product, the Adient Ascent is designed for not only the 787 and 777, but also the A350 and A330.
Oh, and if you needed additional proof that the A330s will remain dedicated to Hawai’i service, take a look at this close-up of the new Alaska Air 787 livery sample – the nose says Proudly all Boeing.
Different Experiences
Now, before we move on from news surrounding the new Alaska Air 787 livery reveal, I want to go over something that’s been kind of bugging me. The whole purpose of the new Alaska Air 787 livery is to differentiate it from other Alaska Air-branded birds. However, this suggests that Alaska’s 737 fleet won’t receive seatback IFE and won’t get lie-flat seats for longer routes like JFK-ANC. To me, this is a missed opportunity to compete on cross-country flights and thinner international routes meaningfully – more on that later.
This also tells me that Alaska Air is trying to do its expansion as quickly and cheaply as possible. I get this, to a degree. But, for people who frequently travel in premium cabins because they buy the ticket outright or are upgraded, this isn’t a good thing. Over the years, there’s been much complaining about non-standardization across American’s, Delta’s, and United’s fleets, and it seems that Alaska will be the same. JetBlue also only offers Mint on A321neos for trans-Atlantic and transcontinental service. This further reinforces the weird niche in which Alaska (and Hawaiian) operate.
Finally, to further exacerbate my previous point, the A330 will get premium economy, but no other aircraft will at this point? And what the hell will this premium economy be? AAG already has Premium Class and Extra Comfort. Will premium economy supplement this or replace it? And will the A330s retain seatback IFE in main cabin?
London
Ok, let’s move on from the new Alaska Air 787 livery topics and move on to the new routes. First up is London. The fourth international destination announced thus far, London Heathrow, will likely be the first year-round European destination for AAG. LHR is an extremely slot-constrained airport, so the big question is how the hell Alaska got a slot in the first place. Well, per the announcement:
Alaska’s expansion into the London market, facilitated by strengthened collaborations with American Airlines and British Airways, presents significant opportunities. These alliances are expected to deepen over time, offering even greater value and connectivity to consumers.
They’re leaning on their oneworld partners for this route, which means that either AA or BA gave up a slot to give to Alaska Air. This flight will be operated once daily (at least initially) and will compete with similar flights from BA and DL/VS, all of which operate once daily in the low season and twice daily during busier periods.
What I think will happen here is that AA, AS, and BA will seek antitrust immunity for this arrangement, which will make it much more economically advantageous and will help give AAG more staying power on the route. And while competition is already fierce on the route, being at an alliance partner’s primary hub will automatically make sustaining the route so much easier, thanks to all the connecting/feed options.
Keflavik, Iceland
Rounding out the new Alaska Air 787 livery announcement is the airline’s fifth international destination, and third in Europe. However, in a contradictory move, this seasonal route will be served by a 737 MAX 8. Yup, that’s right. Though Alaska Air just got through telling us how the new Alaska Air 787 livery is meant to represent the airline’s global aspirations with a premium experience, they’ll be operating this new international route with a plain ‘ole Chester wearing 737 MAX 8. Which, I’ll remind you, AAG has no intention of upgrading beyond providing more First Class (recliner) seats and Premium Class seats onboard.
So, thus far, AAG has launched service to Asia, announced three routes to Europe, and revealed the new Alaska Air 787 livery specifically to serve these new routes, only to immediately undermine this new branding by dumping a MAX 8 on one of its new European routes?
Look, I get it. Iceland has decidedly lower demand than continental Europe, and the MAX 8 is mission-capable. After all, Icelandair already flies the A320 between Keflavik and Seattle. But, really? This is not the message AAG says it wants to send.
Moreover, Icelandair is already an Alaska Air partner for flights between the West Coast and Keflavik. What happens now? Will that partnership survive and provide further connections to continental Europe? Or is this partnership doomed, as was the case with a couple of Hawaiian partners recently? Oh, and, it’s worth noting that Icelandair does have seatback IFE installed across its fleet.
New Alaska Air 787 Livery, Final Thoughts
There was A LOT of information coming at us during the new Alaska Air 787 livery announcement. The new routes are great, and while I’m still not happy with what’s going on, I do appreciate confirmations and timelines for 787 movement, along with concrete evidence that A330s will remain dedicated to Hawai’i service when all is said and done. However, I must say, I’m not a fan of the new Alaska Air 787 livery. While there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just so plain and boring. But, I’m biased, as I think Pualani looks so much better on the 787. Plus, you know, I find this whole strategy confusing and unnecessary.
I still think that if they truly wanted to differentiate their international service from Alaska Air service in North America, they should have developed an entirely new third brand. This just screams laziness and/or penny-pinching, and will do nothing for the Alaska Air brand.
Finally, I would like to point out that I find it interesting that AAG has announced a grand plan to have 12 international routes by 2030. However, of the five routes announced thus far, one is already confirmed to be seasonal, while another is likely to be seasonal as well. Meanwhile, AAG has already seemed to have ticked off Delta.
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