Wien
Air Alaska Boeing 737-210C
N493WC
(c/n 21822)
Wien Consolidated began taking deliveries of their
Boeing 737s in 1973. By this time the airline
was ranging as far afield
as Oakland, Denver and Phoenix. In 1974 it was decided to revert
the
name back to Wien Air Alaska. To give the company
its due, it took them six years to remove
the "Consolidated" bit
from their title. Some airlines, of course, when swallowing another
carrier get
rid of the former
airline's title immediately. (Some, like Delta with Chicago and
Southern, retained
it for less than a
year). The image above, showing a typical 737 in the livery
devised in the 1980s,
was taken by Gerald
Helmer, at Seattle-Tacoma Airport in September of
1983. Seen below is
the same aircraft at Dallas/Fort Worth International in the markings
used in the immediate post Wien
Consolidated
period. This photograph is from the Ellis Chernoff
collection. Wien Air Alaska ceased
operations on 23 November
1984. It was liquidated by its president (and owner) Jim Flood
result-
ing in the loss of
1500 jobs. N493WC was sold to Alaska Airlines as N744AS.