The merger of the only two U.S. airlines named for individual states is bringing significant change to the combined carrier’s big hub in a third state, Washington, with Alaska taking advantage of Hawaii’s long-haul fleet to create connections between Seattle and Japan and Korea.
Alaska’s has previously been flying only 737s and the smaller E175, while Hawaiian’s fleet included 24 A330s and a pair of 787-9s with ten more on order. While Hawaiian was originally a mainly inter-island carrier, it has evolved over the years into a conduit for bringing vacationers from far away, especially from Asia.
Alaska will take advantage of that fleet to create the Seattle routes to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, with the flights flying initially under the Hawaiian banner until the two airlines switch to a single operator certificate. Because Hawaiian already serves both cities and has ground staff and infrastructure, Alaska’s entry into the markets will be much easier. To make room for the Seattle flight at Narita, Hawaiian’s route from Honolulu to Narita will move to Haneda, where the airline hopes it will be more successful than at Narita. Alaska officials say they hope by 2030 to have a dozen trans-Pacific routes operating from Seattle
Seattle will also have 20% more seats headed for Hawaii by upgauging three of the airline’s six daily flights to larger planes, but it will lose some routes to Portland. Since Portland has room and Seattle is at capacity, Alaska is shifting some of its domestic connections to the Oregon city to make room at Seattle for more international connecting passengers.
