Alaska’s Northern Pacific Airways is adding six preowned Boeing 757-200s to its fleet in a transaction announced on Wednesday. The Anchorage-based start-up has indicated that the aircraft are being acquired from leasing group AerSale and were formerly in service with American Airlines.
Northern Pacific is part of the Float Alaska group, which also includes regional carriers Ravn Alaska and FlyCoin. The company says it is looking to source other aircraft as it prepares to launch transpacific services to Asia from various U.S. cities via Anchorage.
The 757-200 is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce RB211 engines and can carry 200 passengers on sectors of up to 3,915 nm. Northern Pacific said it chose the single-aisle model because it is less costly to operate than widebody airliners and has a greater range than similarly sized models.
Before the first of the six Boeing aircraft are delivered, they will undergo a C-level maintenance check by Certified Aviation Services in California. The airline expects to launch services in 2022.