Alaska Airlines needed a new 2-letter code for plane tail numbers. Guess what it chose.

New Alaska Airlines planes will be getting new, very Alaskan tail numbers.

The Seattle-based company has run out of tail numbers ending with the letters "AS" and will instead use "AK" in tail numbers for new plane deliveries starting this month, the airline said in a post on its website.

“Considering our airline growth, and understanding we were running out of AS registrations, we searched for a new, meaningful set of trailing letters and settled on AK – the two-letter code for the State of Alaska,” said Russell Summers, manager of aircraft acquisitions, in the blog post.

Tail numbers are used to identify aircraft for everything from maintenance to coordinating flights with baggage claims.

Alaska Airlines has used "AS" in reference to the company's former name, Alaska Star Airlines. The tail numbers won't change on existing planes.

In January, the company unveiled a set of brand changes, including subtle changes to its plane and terminal designs. This month, Alaska Airlines' parent company announced it would buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion.

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