Crowded into the maintenance hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, about 400 employees and VIPs watched as the Boeing taxied down the ramp.

The flight crew of the "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon" spun a three-sixty on the ramp before parking to show off its fishy finish.

In a marketing and promotion agreement with Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which promotes the export of Alaska seafood, Alaska Airlines added the roughly $300,000 painting of a king salmon to the fuselage of one of its Boeing 737-400s.

Washington-based artist Mark Boyle, who designed the paint scheme, or "livery" as it is called, was on hand with the aircraft as it flew its route from Seattle to Anchorage, Cordova, Yakutat and Juneau on Oct. 2.

Boyle says that the project was quite an undertaking and that special Mylar paints and colors had to prepared for the scaly theme.

"We created a completely new color called 'Kenai Gray' just to mimic the color of the salmon," Boyle said. "This is the largest canvas I have ever been responsible for."

Boyle is a wildlife artist who makes his living designing aircraft liveries.

The jet received its new livery at Goodrich Aviation Technical Services of Everett, Wash.

Despite the cool mid-day temperatures in the low 40s, Alaska Airlines families lined up inside the hangar for food and refreshments, music and prizes.

"This is quite a shindig," said Sue Bramsted, director of public affairs for Alaska Airlines. "The plane was full of seafood VIPs and regular passengers."

The plane sat glistening on the ramp at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport as music reverberated out of the hangar from a '70s rock band. Smoke drifted across the tarmac from barbecue pits baking salmon for the party, as curious children and their parents examined the aircraft. The only thing missing at the gala event was the face of the blue and white Eskimo on the tail of the aircraft.

Alaska officials indicated that a new fleet of five Boeing 737-400 combis will be added to the Alaska route structure that will be responsible for lifting 30 million pounds of seafood from the state.

Scheduled to come online in the spring of 2006, Alaska Airlines spent $15 million to retrofit the Boeing 737-400s into combination cargo/passenger configurations.

The five aircraft and a cargo transformation plan will add more than a 50 percent increase in cargo lifting capacity, according to company officials.

In addition to flying north to Alaska and south to Mexico with its fishy finish, the Salmon-Thirty-Salmon will also fly east to Denver, Chicago and Dallas/Ft. Worth as a tool to promote wild Alaska seafood.