Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) has substantially decelerated the phase-out of Dash 8-400 turboprops operated by Horizon Air (QX, Seattle Tacoma International) due in 2019 and 2020.
According to its quarterly financial report, Alaska Airlines has reactivated two previously retired Dash 8-400s and expects them to rejoin active service in "late 2019". As such, at the end of the year, the carrier plans to actively operate 33 turboprops, up from the previously anticipated 31.
In 2020, the carrier now plans to retire just one Dash 8-400, bringing the overall number of the type in Horizon Air's fleet to 32. At the beginning of this year, Alaska Airlines planned to have just twenty-three Dash 8-400s left at the end of 2020.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Horizon Air currently has thirty-eight Dash 8-400 s in its fleet, of which five are in long-term storage. Out of the thirty-three active units, one - N402QX (msn 4032) - returned to active service on August 11, 2019, after having been stored at Sault Sainte Marie, ON since June 25, 2019, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
Alaska Airlines has been affected by the grounding of the B737 MAX, although to a lesser degree than many of its competitors. The carrier did not take any B737 MAX prior to the grounding, although it initially expected to take three B737-9s in 2019.
"Two of the three B737-9 aircraft that were originally scheduled for delivery in 2019 have been shifted to 2020 in light of the recent MAX grounding, based on our best estimate of the expected delivery dates," it said in the quarterly report.
