Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines also
release combined spring/summer schedule with more choices
and improved connectivity for guests flying between U.S.
continent and Hawaiʻi
SEATTLE, Dec. 10,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Air Group is celebrating
another milestone in the combination of Alaska Airlines and
Hawaiian Airlines with the launch of Seattle as a new global gateway, connecting
our guests to the world through a remarkable travel experience
rooted in safety, care and performance. New nonstop service with
Hawaiian Airlines widebody aircraft between Seattle and Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT), and Seoul Incheon,
South Korea (ICN) will begin in
2025, and an enhanced domestic network for the two airlines will
launch this spring.
Daily nonstop flights between Seattle and Tokyo Narita start on May 12, 2025, offering guests an enticing option
when traveling between the Pacific Northwest and Japan on Hawaiian's Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
These flights, along with connections to other Asian destinations
on oneworld Alliance partner Japan Airlines, can be
purchased now at alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com.
Nonstop service between Seattle
and Seoul Incheon is scheduled to begin in October 2025, with fares available for purchase
early next year, along with additional flight details.
Air Group's Seattle hub is the
largest on the West Coast of any carrier, serving 104 nonstop
destinations across North America,
allowing for convenient travel options and connections. Including
Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, the company plans to serve at least
12 nonstop global destinations with long-haul widebody
aircraft from our Seattle
gateway by 2030, with further specifics on where and when to be
revealed later.
"We believe our guests will be as excited as we are about these
new nonstop flights to Tokyo and
Seoul – two of the world's most
dynamic cities. From our global gateway in Seattle, we can conveniently connect travelers
from across our network as they head to Asia and beyond," said Ben Minicucci, chief executive officer at Alaska
Air Group. "Hawaiian's spacious widebody aircraft, along with its
excellent onboard service and amenities, will make for a terrific
trip from one side of the Pacific
Rim to the other."
Our new widebody service between Seattle and Tokyo Narita enables us to
right-size our capacity between Hawaiʻi and Japan, a market that has experienced a weaker
leisure travel demand in the wake of the pandemic. As we reposition
the aircraft on the Honolulu-Tokyo Narita route to Seattle, we will offer more flying options
between Honolulu and Tokyo Haneda
– one of two international airports in Japan's capital – by increasing Hawaiian's
service from 12 to 14 flights a week. Hawaiian will also continue
to offer nonstop service between Honolulu and both Osaka and Fukuoka for a total of 24 weekly roundtrips
between Hawaiʻi and Japan.
We are also enhancing our newly combined domestic network with
strategic changes to where, when and what type of aircraft we fly.
Our primary goals are to improve performance, expand growth
opportunities, and offer our guests increased choice, network
connectivity and convenience. The adjustments begin to take effect
in late March with our spring schedule and continue to roll out
through the second quarter:
- More choices for our guests flying between the West Coast
and Hawaiʻi: We're updating our departures to improve our
time-of-day coverage. We will offer 20% more seats between
Seattle and Honolulu, with three of our six daily nonstop
flights from Seattle to
Honolulu on widebody Hawaiian
aircraft. This helps us accommodate an expected increase in
passenger and cargo demand. In Portland, there will be three daily nonstops
to Honolulu with convenient
staggered departure times and a 25% increase in available seats.
We're also improving connectivity in San
Diego – a growing West Coast gateway to Hawaiʻi for Air
Group – with mid-morning and late afternoon departures to
Maui instead of just morning
departures, and newly timed mid-afternoon and redeye departures
from Maui.
- Improved connectivity for East Coast and Midwest flights to
Hawai'i: We will offer an adjusted flight schedule using our
combined network to allow for flights from the East Coast and
Midwest to connect more easily on the West Coast before heading to
the Islands. In addition to the new redeye between Maui and San
Diego, we are adding three more overnight flights from
Hawaiʻi to the West Coast: Honolulu and Maui to Portland, and Honolulu to San
Francisco. The redeye flights unlock new connections for our
flyers across the continental U.S. and will boost the utilization
of Hawaiian aircraft. Improved connectivity will open greater
access to Hawai'i for guests throughout our network and strengthen
nonstop and one-stop access to destinations across North America for Hawai'i residents.
- Maximizing widebody flying: To accommodate additional
guests, we will fly Hawaiian's larger A330 aircraft on three
flights between Honolulu and
Seattle and move to one daily
flight with an A330 between Honolulu and Sacramento. During the peak summer season in
the state of Alaska, we will
deploy Hawaiian A330 aircraft to fly between Seattle and Anchorage to take advantage of the
aircraft's higher seating and cargo capacity. Alaska and Hawaiian have complementary cargo
networks, with cargo playing a crucial role in the communities they
serve. Alaska will fly at least 18
daily roundtrips this summer between Seattle and Anchorage.
- New nonstops between San
Francisco and the Islands: We're adding new nonstops on
Alaska between San Francisco and both Kona on Hawai'i Island
and Līhu'e on Kauaʻi. San
Francisco-Kona service will be four times a week starting
June 12, 2025, and San
Francisco-Līhuʻe will be three times a week starting June 13, 2025. With these new flights,
Alaska and Hawaiian will offer
four daily nonstop flights to the four main Hawaiian Islands from
San Francisco, one of our key West
Coast hubs. The new flights are available for purchase now at
alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com.
- Adding more flying with the Hawaiian brand: To better
utilize the fleet, we've increased the number of hours Hawaiian's
Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A321 aircraft fly daily. This means more
flying time for Hawaiian's crews and more union jobs. The A321s
will fly 25% more than they did before. This strategy mitigates the
impact of delayed Boeing 737 deliveries while enabling us to expand
our overall network reach.
Alaska and Hawaiian continue to
work on obtaining a single operating certificate from the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), a process that is expected to be
completed by October 2025. Each
airline will operate separately until the certificate is issued.
Even with the combination into one great airline, the company will
keep the two brands our guests love so much.
About Alaska Air Group
Alaska Air Group, Inc. is
based in Seattle and comprised of
subsidiaries Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Horizon Air and
McGee Air Services. With our recent acquisition of Hawaiian
Airlines, we now serve more than 140 destinations throughout
North America, Central America, Asia and the Pacific. We are committed to
safety, remarkable customer care, operational excellence, financial
performance and sustainability. Alaska Airlines is a member of
the oneworld Alliance. With
oneworld and our additional global partners, our
guests have more choices than ever to purchase, earn or redeem
on alaskaair.com across 30 airlines and more than
1,000 worldwide destinations. Book travel throughout the Pacific on
Hawaiian Airlines at hawaiianairlines.com. Learn more
about Alaska Airlines at news.alaskaair.com and
Hawaiian Airlines at
newsroom.hawaiianairlines.com/blog. Alaska Air Group is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as
"ALK."
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SOURCE Alaska Air Group, Inc.