Rare Alaska Airlines airliner arrives at Prestwick
- Ayrshire Daily News
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Doug Maclean Aviation Editor
Over the decades many unusual airlines have found Prestwick’s long runway useful for a stop over between North America and Europe. Alaska Airlines joined that prestigious list on Tuesday when a beautiful Boeing 787 Dreamliner arrived from Seattle on the far west coast of the USA.
As flight number ASA9965 touched down in Europe for the first time the Alaska Airlines news team clarified why they were in Scotland. They told Ayrshire Daily News that “This was one of our validation flights ahead of our upcoming service between Seattle and Rome.” Those new scheduled services start on April 28th and are the airline’s first to Europe. Flights between Seattle and London Heathrow start on May 21st.
Alaska explained to me about the Prestwick arrival. “These flights are flown without passengers, giving us an opportunity to identify any adjustments we need to make prior to a route's start of service. The aircraft will remain at the airport until the crew rests up, and then it will head back to Seattle.”
Perhaps indicating the airline’s ambitions the aircraft was resplendent in Alaska’s new “Global” colour scheme. Alaska say that the design “draws inspiration from the natural wonder of the Aurora Borealis, featuring a palette of deep midnight blues and lush emerald greens that channel the aurora’s energy and spirit of the Alaska brand. Utilising a new aircraft painting technique, it took artists nearly 1000 hours across 13 days to paint the aircraft exterior from nose to tail.”
Local photographer Callum Dargavel last night captured the Dreamliner beautifully as it rested at Prestwick before departing today on its 9 and a half hours, 4,000 miles, trans Polar flight back to Seattle.
Aviation experts were searching the records for a date when Alaska Airlines had last been seen in Prestwick. It seems that they flew a Boeing 707 into Prestwick in the 1970s. Very pleasingly Cameron from Alaska told me “We plan to fly a few more validation flights to Glasgow in the coming weeks.”
Prestwick always surprises with its interesting variety of aeroplanes and stories. As we wave farewell to the first Alaska Dreamilner in Europe we look forward to Friday morning when we expect the arrival of a historic Spitfire flight. I will be there to cover the aviation action as usual for Ayrshire Daily News.
