‘If you build it, they will come’ apparently applies to airports as well as to baseball diamonds: Southwest is joining Alaska and United to offer service to Seattle’s new second commercial airport, Paine Field in Everett.
It’s not exactly a new airport; it’s the same field that Boeing uses as delivery point for its 747/777/787 factory along its edge. But once proposals were made last year to offer scheduled air service to relieve congestion on the roads to SeaTac, the project picked up approvals and steam quickly. A new two-gate terminal will open this fall to handle it.
Everett is about 25 miles north of Seattle; SeaTac is about the same distance to the south. The airlines are betting that many customers from the city and north of the city will choose Paine over the long haul through or around Seattle.
When service starts, Alaska is planning 13 daily round-trips to eight cities, while United will have six round-trips to two of its hubs, Denver and San Francisco. Southwest will fly five times a day from Paine Field, but has not said what cities it will serve. Alaska will fly to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Orange County and Los Angeles.
Photo: Paine Field (Jelson25/Wikimedia)
