Alaska’s Northern Pacific Airways promises to be one of the most exciting launches of the year. The airline is defying the conventional with an old school Boeing 757-200 fleet, crowdfunding, and flights between the US and Asia that stopover in Anchorage. Northern Pacific is eyeing flying 50 of the Boeings by 2026, and so far, they have acquired four and have their name down for eight more. Here’s a recap of those planes and where they are coming from.
Four Boeing 757-200s are already acquired
Last October, Northern Pacific Airways purchased its first Boeing 757-200, a 27-year-old plane (registration N627NP) that formerly flew for American Airlines and before that, US Airways. In November 2021, Northern Pacific bought its second jet, another 27-year-old jet (registration N200UU) that was also formerly operated by American Airlines and US Airways.
On March 31, 2022, Northern Pacific cracked open their checkbook again to buy two more Boeing 757-200s. The two planes are registered as N201UU and N202UW. Both planes are similar vintages to the 2021 planes and have near-identical pedigrees. So far, Northern Pacific has US Department of Transportation authority to fly eight large jets. Northern Pacific is in the process of re-certifying its first four planes.
Image: Northern Pacific Airways
Northern Pacific signs a letter of intent to take eight more planes
In April this year, Northern Pacific signed a letter of intent to acquire another eight Boeing 757-200s. We know the planes but don’t know the order they are expected to arrive, so we’ll briefly run through the identification details and history of each jet. The first of the batch of eight Boeing 757-200s is N597UA, a 23-and-a-half-year-old former United Airlines jet. Next up is N589UA, nearly 24 and a half years old and also ex-United Airlines. The third plane is N595UA, also around 24 and a half years old, and also a former United Airlines jet.
At nearly 29 years old, N588UA is the fourth plane in the batch of eight and comes from United Airlines via the Bank of Utah. The fifth jet is N598UA, a relative youngster at 23 and a half years old and also ex – you guessed it, United Airlines. Next is N590UA, ex-United Airlines, and now 24 and a half years old. The seventh plane is N587UA, nearly 29 years old and from United Airlines. The final aircraft Northern Pacific has so far ordered is N596UA. Like the others in the batch, it’s an ex-United jet and around 24 and a half years old.
.png?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Northern Pacific AIrways has ambitious plans to scale up its Boeing 757-200 fleet over the next few years. Photo: Northern Pacific Airways
Stretching the available dollars
So what’s the take-out here? Northern Pacific is targeting a specific type of plane that major carriers are retiring. These planes are either coming directly from the airlines or, if owned by lessors, coming via them. The 757-200s are old, and that makes them cheap – doubtless a key criterion for an airline that is crowdfunding to partly finance its launch. There’s nothing wrong with buying older planes when they come from reputable carriers like United and American (who both have top-tier maintenance and safety standards).
Northern Pacific is also in line to wet lease four jets while it gets its first four owned planes sorted. According to Northern Pacific, three of those wet-leased planes will arrive in November 2022 and the fourth in March 2023. Why the wet leasing? There are a couple of scenarios. One is that Northern Pacific won’t have the re-certification process completed by the planned November launch date. The second is it’s cheaper for Northern Pacific to wet lease than to operate its own planes, and the airline is going down this road for purely short-term financial reasons. More details on the mysterious wet-leased planes and the reasons for them should emerge shortly.
