Alaska Airlines celebrated 25 years of serving the San Fernando Valley Thursday with a water cannon salute for one of its flights at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The airline is the longest continually serving airline at the Burbank airport, which has undergone several names changes since Alaska started flights there in 1981. “A key part of starting out as we expanded to Southern California was to serve the satellite airports around [Los Angeles International Airport],” said Glenn Johnson, senior vice president for customer service at airports. “[Burbank] became important because it allowed us to serve the local business community and leisure travelers at a convenient airport.” Alaskan Airline has four non-stops a day between Seattle and Burbank, with four non-stops to Portland made by sister airline, Horizon Air. Johnson and several other airline executive were aboard the 7 a.m. flight to Burbank from Seattle that was welcomed with the water cannon salute from an airport fire department vehicle.
