We love to see it! Alaska Airlines in partnership with the United Negro College Fund, recently unveiled a new plane honoring equality in education. The Boeing 737 is said to be “a symbol of our commitment to education and advancing racial equity at Alaska Airlines.”
“As a company, we know we are not yet where we need to be when it comes to diversity, but we are inspired and guided by our value to do the right thing,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci in a statement. “With this aircraft, we are doing the right thing by amplifying the conversation around education, equity and belonging and taking it to the skies.”
The plane, named ‘Commitment’, adorns quotes from Maya Angelou, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. It was designed in conjunction with several of the company’s Black employees, and features the faces of Black and brown students connected to employees of the airline, too.
“The quotes from activists, thinkers and world changers on the plane are just as important as the people … and are a heavy weight to put on somebody—Chicago-based artist Adé Hogue was the first person I thought of for this project because I’ve seen his work and saw what he was doing in this space for social justice,” Johnny Mack, designer of the aircraft said on the site.
The aircraft will operate within Alaska’s network while also seeking to promote UNCF’s mission of ‘enabling under-represented students to become highly qualified college graduates.’
Another key aspect of the Alaska Air x UNCF partnership is the airline’s pledge to donate one million miles annually to support students attending HBCUs, as well as a scholarship fund to help HBCU students financially.
“While small in number, our HBCUs are landmarks to our past and keys to our future,” Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF said in a release. “They enable us to keep a legacy — by their very existence. HBCUs are much more than schools. They are places where Black students can feel safe, welcomed, and embraced by the college community. Additionally, the nation’s HBCUs make up just 3% of America’s colleges and universities, yet they produce almost 20% of all African American graduates and 25% of African American graduates in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics — the critical industries of the future.”
Watch more of the airline’s commitment below: