Satellite-based navigation and fierce independence define Alaska Airlines, a lifeline and crucial carrier for the West Coast and Hawaii.

While Alaska Airlines is tiny compared to major carriers, with 124 planes as compared to United Airlines, which has more than 700 planes and four times the passengers, the airline has been instrumental in creating industry-changing technology and transforming convenience for its many remote passengers. 

Alaska’s forbidding topography and extreme weather made it the first to refine satellite guidance which has transformed landing at the country’s challenging airports and become an integral part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) plan to modernize the nation’s air traffic system at a projected cost of tens of billions of dollars.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a crusty old dog like me to fly these approaches anymore,” said Doug Wahto, a Juneau native who started flying with Alaska Airlines in 1970. Wahto said he used to read wind conditions by looking at snow blowing across mountain ridges. Continue reading...

As people across the globe buy up the Toyota Priuses and electric Ford Focuses and Chevy Volts and switch their cars to biofuels and try to just figure out what is the best way to run cars without sucking up all the oil and polluting the air, there have been a few massive carbon-eating culprits flying around: airplanes.

Virgin Atlantic tried out biofuels three years ago, and is now working on developing the world's first low-carbon aviation fuel with just half the carbon footprint of the standard fossil fuel alternative, as Richard Branson announced last month. Two years ago, KLM completed the first commercial biofuel flight, while Finnair completed the longest biofueled commercial flight in July.

Now, U.S. airlines are finally getting into the greening business. The Guardian remarked how U.S. airlines are "racing" this month "to demonstrate their clean energy credentials, scheduling a number of flights powered partially by biofuels.”Continue reading...

Occupy Wall Street should be happy with news that Wall Street bonuses will be way down this year and some success for Bank Transfer Day, while protesters in New York will be serenaded by Crosby & Nash in free concert today.

American and Alaska airlines complete world's first commercial biofuel flights.

American Express lures digital commerce startups with $100M funds.

Australia passes carbon tax.

Best Buy refocuses global expansion plans in new strategy.

Carlos Slim draws protests in Mexico by offering free TV on the web.Continue reading...

You’ve watched plenty of movies on it, sent countless emails on it, and gotten hundreds of thousands of Angry Birds points on it, but the iPad is about to become much more useful to the airline industry.

United Airlines is in the process of replacing the 40-pound flight bag each pilot has that contains “copies of charts and handbooks” they need for flying with the 1.5-pound iPad, according to the Denver Post.

Back in August, the airline became the first carrier to start doling out iPads to its pilots, as seen above. Well into its test, United now “estimates the savings will be about 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year and 16 million sheets of paper.”Continue reading...

With over half a billion users and a billionaire founder who was TIME magazine's Person of the Year, Facebook has been flying high. This month, the social network is flying high, quite literally.

In a promotion through Gogo Inflight Internet, which offers inflight connectivity in the continental U.S., Facebook will be available free in February on the Wi-Fi networks AirTran, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, United, US Airways, and Virgin America. Other services provided can range in price from $4.95 to as much as $12.95.

Gogo has been pushing its service via partnered promotions lately to encourage more air travelers to take advantage of Wi-Fi. But don't forget in-flight netiquette!Continue reading...

Alaska Airlines is in the news – and not for shuttling the Palins around.

A Canadian couple recently missed their flight tending to a baby diaper emergency. Forced to spend the night and fly another airline home, they launched a publicist-attention-getting blog called Alaska Airlines Hates Families, demanding the airline (famed for its 1980s spot above, and for Apolo Ohno's endorsement) reimburse their $1,038 ticket.

A blogosphere groundswell of sympathy erupted, but was ineffective until a front page story appeared in The Edmonton Journal. The airline wrote them a $1,000 check, hoping it would all go away, and a new blog post went up, titled "Alaska Airlines Does Not Actually Hate Families."

But residual negative PR continues to swirl and Alaska Airlines has been dubbed “family haters,” severely detrimental to any airline in these flier-unfriendly times, with everyone's nerves frayed by TSA restrictions and passengers protesting en masse (as happened today to Ryanair).

Staying upbeat on Facebook and Twitter, Alaska Airlines' PR team is trying to smooth the roiled waters of a sullied reputation. Time for a cameo on TLC's new hit show?

What an interesting, paradoxical time for Starbucks. Once regarded as a bullet-proof brand that engendered the fiercest form of customer loyalty, Starbucks has of late been somewhat shunned by cost-conscious consumers. Feeling the effects of the economy, Starbucks' customer base has shrunk as coffee drinkers move to McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, and other less expensive alternatives.

While the company watches its own retail empire contract, with 600 stores closed in the past two years, Starbucks is putting its energy into driving the sales of Seattle's Best Coffee, a former rival the company acquired in 2003. Starbucks aims to expand the brand to more than 30,000 locations, up from 3,000, by the end of its fiscal year in September.

Starbucks is pursuing an aggressive strategy to place Seattle's Best Coffee in U.S. Burger King and Subway restaurants, AMC movie theatres, and in a number of varied outlets, including Alaska Airlines, Borders bookstores, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. The company also plans to sell the brand in convenience stores and supermarkets, and via all forms of on-street distribution, such as coffee carts, kiosks, mobile trucks, and vending machines.

The distribution push is accompanied by the launch of a new Seattle's Best logo and slogan. The brand will move away from its type-only treatment to a contemporary graphic that highlights a drop of coffee in what could be interpreted as a wide-open smiling mouth.Continue reading...