With less than a month to go for the start of the 2023 Major League Baseball Season, Alaska Airlines is already rooting for its favorite team by unveiling a new livery. The carrier is kicking off the season by featuring a special livery dedicated to the San Francisco Giants, its third overall since its partnership with the team began in 2017.

Lou Seal features on Alaska Airline's plane

Alaska Airlines is rooting for the San Francisco Giants this baseball season by unveiling a new livery on one of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The latest design features the team's mascot Lou Seal on the fuselage and also on the aircraft's belly, along with the Giants logo in orange and black above the wing.

According to NBC News, the aircraft performed its maiden flight after getting the makeover by flying to Phoenix, carrying Giants' fans to get a glimpse of the team at the Spring Training.

The aircraft in question is a new Boeing 737 MAX registered N936AK. Delivered to Alaska Airlines in June 2022, it is not even a year old. The plane will sport the new livery throughout Alaska's network for the rest of 2023.

Other Giants-themed liveries

N936AK isn't the first aircraft in Alaska's fleet to feature a Giants-themed livery. In 2017, the airline rolled out the first of such liveries on an Airbus A321 registered N924VA, featuring the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in orange across the fuselage and an orange and black Giants logo above the wing.

The second Giants-themed aircraft was unveiled in 2021 on an Airbus A320 with the tail number N855VA and simply had the team logo on the fuselage. Alaska celebrates the team's playoff run with these special liveries and has even announced in the past that fans who wear Giants' apparel can board early for all San Francisco departing flights for the duration of the team's postseason play.

Alaska Airlines has been a partner of the San Francisco Giants since 2017. The airline wanted a stronger foothold in the San Francisco market after it acquired Virgin America in 2016. The pact with the Giants was an extension of the deal already in place with Virgin America and was extended for another seven years.

Other special liveries

Alaska Airlines often unveils special liveries from time to time. Its Christmas livery last year featured the entire aircraft as a gift with an adorable blue bow ribbon at the underside of the fuselage. In 2022, Alaska and Disneyland Resort also collaborated with Lucasfilm and Yellow Shoes to feature artwork and designs as a tribute to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland Park.

Its Salmon Thirty Salmon II livery, produced in partnership with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, is so popular with fans and av-geeks that news of the carrier painting over it forced many aviation enthusiasts to create a petition on Change.org to persuade the airline to keep it. It remains to be seen whether Alaska will pay any attention to the petition or go ahead with its plans of painting over the iconic fish livery.