Alaska Boosts West Coast Network with New Los Angeles Service
Joe Cortez July 16, 2020
Alaska Airlines will add seven new routes from Los Angeles International Airport, including two to Hawaii. The carrier will introduce the new routes starting on Oct. 1, 2020, adding a total of 12 new destinations planned by Alaska to new locations.
Alaska Airlines will offer flights to 35 cities by the end of 2020, with their latest plans to add seven new routes from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In a press release, the carrier confirmed plans to add flights from the Southern California hub, including two to Hawaii.
New Destinations Include Bozeman, Lihue, Kona, Ft. Myers, and Tampa
The new flights will be added throughout the end of the year, starting on Oct. 1, 2020. Using Embraer E175 aircraft, Alaska will begin flying daily service between LAX and Eugene, Ore. and Medford, Ore.
On Nov. 20, 2020, Alaska will introduce three more flights to LA, including daily service to Bozeman, Mont. on the E175. The other two flights are headed to Florida, including a daily flight to Tampa and a four-times weekly flight to Fort Myers, Fla. Both will be operated on the airline’s Boeing 737 airframes.
In December, Alaska will start their two new flights to Hawaii. Dec. 17, 2020 will see the launch of three-times weekly service to Kona, while Dec. 18 is the start date for four-times weekly service to Lihue, on the island of Kauai. Both will be flown on the Boeing 737.
This winter, Alaska Airlines will add 12 new nonstop destinations from LAX (for a total of 35), with future growth in Southern California.
Along with the four flights Alaska added from LAX and upcoming service to Fresno, Calif., the Seattle-based carrier will serve 35 markets with non-stop service. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline also anticipates strong growth out of Los Angeles, which could lead to future flights.
“LAX is one of Alaska’s important hub markets and continues to offer valuable opportunities for selective expansion,” Brett Catlin, Alaska Airlines managing director of capacity planning and alliances, said in the press release. “The addition of these 12 new routes from LAX along with our upcoming membership in the oneworld alliance sets the stage for future growth.”
Announcement Lines Up with American-JetBlue Strategic Alliance
Alaska’s announcement comes as JetBlue is ramping up for a potential showdown. Earlier in July, the New York-based airline announced they would consolidate most of their operations at LAX, abandoning their previous base of Long Beach International Airport (LGB).
In addition, JetBlue announced on the same day they would start a strategic alliance with Alaska partner American Airlines. Although JetBlue will not become a member of oneworld, the new partnership allows them to codeshare with American on flights where they do not currently operate.
I was hoping Alaska (after taking over Virgin) would provide more competition to So. Ca. airports (SAN, SNA, LAX) from OAK. SWA has become a high priced airline. They fly out of both SFO and OAK. Now, SWA (aka WN) charges more to fly OAK to SNA or SAN than Jet Blue does across country. Have to spend an extra 40 minutes to get to SFO to get reasonably priced flite. WN has more competition at SFO.
That is pretty optimistic timing