tomsnome.com's unofficial Alaska Airlines 737-200 Page

For more than twenty-five years, with rare exceptions such as the evening flight during summertime, Alaska Airlines' flights to Nome were combination passenger-freighters, Boeing 737-200's, which were capable of carrying 26 to 111 passengers, depending on configuration, and without passengers, a total of 6 igloos (freight containers).  They ccould handle 30,000 pounds, but due to fuel considerations, often carried in the range of 25,000 pounds.

Newcomers to the bush were often startled after they boarded their flight from the rear air stairs, to find as few as 26 seats and a partition wall in front of them.  Seating was palletized, 12 seats together. 

It was an aging fleet.  On July 14, 2004, Alaska announced that it would eventually retire these "mud hens" and convert five of its existing 737-400's into freighters.  In 2005 and 2006, Pemco Air World Services converted N709AS to a full freighter and it began cargo service on June 30, 2006. 

Four more -400's were be retrofitted with a fixed bulkhead, allowing for 4 igloos up front, and a total of 70 passengers in back.  Two were operating in March 2007, and all should be in service in spring 2008.

In early 2007,  the 737-200 fleet was reduced to two of these venerable aircraft, 741 and 742.  In April 2007, N741AS flew the last -200 combi flight under the Alaska livery, a ceremonial flight from Nome to Anchorage, where the craft was saluted with a volley by airport fire trucks.  While there was no official announcement, word was that the-200 combis were worth only $1 million apiece, and that upcoming D checks might have cost multiple times more than their resale values.

Note:  Many or the links below are to stunning images, most of them to airliners.net, which does not want you to reproduce them.

          airliners.net images of N730AS, N740AS and N742AS


 Flight Simulator aircraft

One of these Alaska Airlines combis is currently available as downloadable freeware for Flight Simulator 2002: N742AS,  by Albertu Guerrero, courtesy of FlightSim.Com.  You'll have to create a free membership login/password.  From their main page, choose Search File Libraries and search for the tail number.  FlightSim.Com has over 300 Alaska files, including White Mountain runway scenery, a couple of old Alaska Airlines 727 and Wien Air Alaska 737 combis,  scenery for Iditarod Trail checkpoints and other interesting files.

A home page with more Alaska jets
airliners.net, with thousands of photographs
 

return to tomsnome.com, Tom Busch's Nome, Alaska Home page

page revised April 14, 2008

Copyright © 2008 Tom Busch