
Credit Brandon Farris Photography.
Horizon Air phasing out its Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplane fleet
Regional airline transitioning to E175 jets
For two decades Horizon Air’s Bombardier Q400 turboprop fleet was the way passengers reached small airports around the Pacific Northwest. Now, the ubiquitous plane will take one last spin for customers Thursday as the airline phases out the plane and completes a transition to an all-E175 jet fleet.
And Friday, some of Horizon Air’s employees will mark the plane’s 22-year history, celebrating with a flight from Seattle to Portland, where there will be retirement festivities.
“We’re commemorating an airplane,” said Horizon’s president, Joe Sprague. “But we’re celebrating the people that made that airplane so positively impactful for Alaska Air Group, Alaska and Horizon.”
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Horizon began transitioning from the Q400s about a year ago when it had 32 of the propeller planes, seven of which were leased. The planes the airline owns will be sold and will likely end up flying outside of the United States, [Horizon’s president, Joe Sprague] Sprague said. Two have been donated, one to Portland Community College and the other to a company developing alternative power plants and fuel technologies, the president added.
“They won’t be flying for Horizon anymore, but they will continue to do good in the world,” he said.