Horizon Air Industries, Inc. (Horizon Air) (Alaska Horizon) (Seattle/Tacoma) has converted two of seven previously acquired Bombardier DHC-8-402 (marketed as the Q400 NextGen) aircraft options to firm orders. The airline retains its options on another five Q400 NextGen aircraft. Horizon Air and its sister carrier, Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.

Horizon Air’s Q400 aircraft are equipped with Head-up Guidance Systems (HGS) for all-weather operations, Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS) with approach guidance (LPV) for ILS-like landing minima at remote runways and RNP AR 0.1 to fly curved approaches to airports in difficult terrain.

Established in 1981, Horizon Air was acquired in 1986 by Alaska Air Group, Inc., the parent company of Alaska Airlines. At its start, the airline operated two aircraft and served three destinations in Washington state. Today, Horizon flies its 76-seat Q400 aircraft on behalf of Alaska Airlines and serves 43 cities in the western United States, Canada and Mexico. Horizon Air, which is also a codeshare partner of American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, operates both the longest (Seattle to Fresno, 748 miles/1,204 km) and shortest (Pullman to Lewiston, 26 miles/42 km) turboprop routes currently being served by regional carriers in the U.S.

In 2014, Bombardier and Horizon Air signed a five-year heavy maintenance agreement whereby Bombardier will perform heavy maintenance tasks for the airline’s fleet of Q400 aircraft at Bombardier’s service center in Tuscon, Arizona.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) N448QX (msn 4409) arrives in Anchorage, Alaska.

Alaska Horizon aircraft slide show: