Dan Saddler, Press Secretary State Capitol, Room 413 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-3804 Fax: (907) 465-4450 Actualities: (800) 478-6540 Web: www.akrepublicans.org Send E-Mail    or    E-Mail List: subscribe

House Resolution Applauds Alaska Airlines
HJR 37 Recognizes Air Carrier's 70 Years of Service to Alaskans

(JUNEAU) - The House today passed a resolution honoring Alaska Airlines for its 70 years of air service linking the people of Alaska with the rest of the world.

Rep. Pete Kott (R- Eagle River) sponsored House Joint Resolution 37, which expresses the Alaska State Legislature's official congratulations of the occasion of the air carrier's seventieth birthday in May 2002. The measure passed the House unanimously.

"I wouldn't generally offer a congratulatory resolution of this nature, but I feel compelled to do so because Alaska Airlines is such a mainstay in the state, and has played such a significant part in its economic development," Kott said from the floor of the House.

Alaska Airlines began in 1932 as McGee Airways, flying a three-seat Stinson between Anchorage and Bristol Bay. It expanded by merging with numerous other carriers from the 1930s to the 1950s, then began flying jets between Anchorage and Seattle in the 1970s. The carrier now serves many major West Coast cities and Mexico resort communities, and recently added Chicago and Washington D.C. to its schedule.

Kott pointed out that Alaska Airlines' impressive history extends beyond its critical role in helping build the territory and state of Alaska, noting that the carrier played an important in the Berlin Airlift, transporting more than 40,000 Yemenite Jews to their new homeland in Israel.

Kott took special note of the carrier's dedication to safety, customer service and leadership in technological advancements, qualities that have won special appreciation from legislators, who rely on Alaska Airlines to transport them home to visit their homes and constituents, and back to the state capitol during the legislative sessions in Juneau.

The degree to which the airline is integrated into life in Alaska is dramatized by the fact that, before the House took its final vote on HJR 37, no fewer than five members of the House noted for the record that they have close relatives working for the airline.

HJR 37 moves next to the Senate for consideration.

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