Kalakala Airlines 727-100 (1978-1987 Livery)

Been holding on to this for a while

Kalakala's first aircraft, arriving at Seattle in 1978 and would fly between Seattle, Juneau and Sacramento. Through the next four years additional 727-100s and -200s were acquired opening services to Portland, Anchorage, Palm Springs and San Diego. Throughout the 80s the small airline almost doubled in size in part due to competitive fares but excellent inflight services and convenient flights. During the 1990s growth slowed with the airline reaching around 70 aircraft flying primarily west coast flights with some transcontinental routes to major cities while the airline developed its Seattle hub it also increased its share at Anchorage and San Francisco increasing its connectivity within California, this put it directly in the firing line with much larger competitor AeroCalifornia founded in 1971 and had been operating intrastate services until deregulation allowed it to expand into the profitable west coast market.

1995 was a bad year for Kalakala as a drop in profits and an ageing fleet made it look as if the airline would not survive to the millennium however, this was later overturned as in 1996 its former rival AeroCalifornia announced it had struck a deal to acquire Kalakala Airlines with the acquisition being completed in October of that year. Since the acquisition Kalakala was joined by regional carrier Surfrider (founded 1999) and New Mexico based Sunwest Airlines (purchased out of bankruptcy in 2006) and has also undergone a complete replacement of its fleet and refreshed image.