alaska airlines began in 1932 with the name "mcgee airways". mcgee airways was combined with several other airlines in 1934 and this created "star air lines". the name was finally changed to "alaska airlines" on may 2, 1944. starting in 1947, alaska airlines bought many new planes. in the 1950s, alaska airlines started flying many worldwide charter (irregular) flights. the government later said that alaska airlines could only fly in the state of alaska. in 1961, alaska airlines started flying to the continental united states. in the 1970s, alaska airlines started flying charters to the soviet union. in 1972, alaska airlines introduced its famous "eskimo" logo which is still used today. in 1985, alaska started flying to many new cities in the west coast of the united states. in 1988, alaska airlines started its first flights to mexico. in the 1990s, alaska airlines became the first to sell tickets on the internet, to have self-service check-in and to have gps on its planes. on january 31, 2000, an alaska airlines plane crashed in the pacific ocean. that crash led to many changes at the airline over the following years. alaska airlines introduced a brand new logo on january 25, 2016. alaska airlines and virgin america announced plans to merge on april 4, 2016. the merged airline kept the alaska airlines name, with virgin america flying for the last time on april 24, 2018.