Alaska Airlines freshening up its look and logo

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, which accounts for about 26 percent of the visitors from the West Coast to Hawaii, has made its first major brand change in 25 years.

The most visible changes, which were unveiled last week, are to the word “Alaska,” the Eskimo icon and the color palette of the plane.

The word “Alaska” now has a clean-lined italic font instead of a font designed to resemble icicles. The iconic Eskimo, which has been featured on the tail of the plan since 1972, was modernized, and new colors were added around his parka trim, which include tropical green and breeze blue. And the colors of the aircraft were changed from mostly white to a blue-and-green trim along the fuselage.

“Our goal in modernizing our Eskimo was to optimize his facial expression so it was clear to our newer customers that he represents warmth and kindness,” said Sangita Woerner, the airline’s vice president of marketing. “It was critically important that we approached his redesign with sensitivity, which is why we sought and received the input of Alaska Native leaders from the Arctic region and across Alaska.”

The new branding will apply to all planes in the fleet, but they are being repainted as they go in for their regularly scheduled painting maintenance instead of painting everything in a shorter amount of time.

“By the end of 2016 we plan to have 40 aircraft — around 20 percent of our total fleet — painted with the new design,” said Daniel Chun, regional manager for sales and community marketing in Hawaii. “We expect to have the entire fleet repainted within the next few years. Over the next two years we’ll also begin refreshing the interior of our aircraft.”

The new brand also will be featured throughout Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, on all digital channels and in marketing materials.

Alaska operates Boeing 737-800 and 737-900ER aircraft between the mainland and Hawaii.

“Our refreshed brand really is an evolution, not a revolution, of Alaska Airlines,” Woerner said. “Our goal was to reflect the soul of our company, which is known for its genuine, caring service and top-notch performance. It’s now time to show up to our customers in a bigger, brighter way.”