Character & Characters: The Spirit of Alaska Airlines

This is the history of Alaska s last legacy airline, Alaska Airlines. Aviation-history writer Robert Serling has documented Alaska Airlines unconventional past and titled it Character & Characters in recognition of those who flew the planes and marked the airline s transformation from a single-aircraft bush operator in 1932 to a major U.S. carrier. From Alaska Airlines fabled beginnings serving the far reaches of America s Last Frontier to its present-day network stretching from Barrow to Zihuatanejo and Boston to Honolulu . . . from creative promotions to its historic flights that linked the United States and the Russian Far East . . . from distinctive in-flight services to the first online ticket sales, Character & Characters chronicles the unusual stories and colorful people behind this uncommonly independent airline. Serling s seasoned perspective is based on his authorship of a long list of airline histories, an industry fascination that began not long after the Wright brothers first flight, and his love of a good story. His experience has resulted in a spirited telling of Alaska Airlines history of survival and success over unforgiving geographies in a remarkably competitive business. Character & Characters has a rhythm to it, based not so much on chronology as on Serling s innate sense of how a good story should be told. And like the airline that is the subject of his work, his book is a great aviation saga.