Alaska Airlines Makes Company History With All Black, All Women Flight Crew

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines celebrated a historic first Sunday: its first flight operated by an all-black, all women crew.

Captain Tara Wright and First Officer Mallory Cave greeted the passengers of flight #361 last Sunday by wishing them a happy Mother's Day, the Daily Mail reports.

"You're sharing a pretty interesting piece of Alaska Airlines history this morning," Wright told passengers. "You'll be piloted by two African-American female pilots, for the first time in Alaska Airlines history."

The plane was heading from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon.

"You're making [history] this morning, whether you're awake or not," Wright said.

The airline shared the video of Wright's address to passengers on the company's Facebook page."What Bessie Coleman started in 1921, we continue here," the airline wrote to caption the video, referring to Bessie Coleman, the first black woman to ever earn a pilot's license.

Though a first for the airline, Alaska Airlines #361 was not the first-ever flight crew made up entirely of black women, the Daily Mail notes.

In February 2009, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (now known as ExpressJet) flight 5202, flying from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Nashville International Airport earned this historic notation. The flight was piloted by Captain Rachelle Jones and First Officer Stephanie Grant. The return flight 5106 had the same crew.