If there is ANY carrier that should make Seattle a global gateway, it's Alaska Airlines, not that Atlanta-based behemoth from Atlanta. With its purchase of Hawaiian Airlines completed, Alaska Air Group (AAG) has announced that Seattle will indeed be it's first Global Gateway, with new nonstop flights to Tokyo/Narita and Seoul/Incheon to start later this year. That's not all though, along with this planet-hopping come a slew of new routes and enhancements to the carrier that will further strengthen the newly enlarged combined carrier (even though Hawaiian Airlines remains a separate brand...for now).
Hopping the Pacific from Seattle
This is the biggest news for the combined carrier, nonstop flights operated by Hawaiian Airbus A330-200s from Seattle/Tacoma International to Tokyo/Narita, Japan (beginning May 12), and to Seoul/Incheon, South Korea (starting in October). Listening in on an Investor Day presentation, AAG hinted at what could be next for the long-haul fleet out of Seattle. Based on geographic and alliance-based advantages, we could see Chester start flying to places such as London, Paris, Helsinki, Bangkok, Manila, and even Delhi or Rome. Geographically speaking, these cities are all closer to Seattle than they are to the mega gateways of San Francisco or Los Angeles. Plus, with Seattle being Alaska's biggest hub, there are 104 other nonstop destinations from there, offering a virtually seamless transfer point versus the multiple terminal juggernaut Los Angeles is, or the fog-prone and construction-plagued mess San Francisco has become.
New Routes outside Seattle
Seattle's not getting ALL the focus, as there is a bevy of new routes AAG is slated to start this year that are already loaded and bookable. First and foremost is new non-stop service between San Diego and Washington/National, DC on March 17. This is a much-needed, and asked-for route, connecting what has to be Alaska's biggest non-hub focus city to the nation's capital.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is getting a lot of attention as well, with new routes from New York/JFK, Sacramento, Kansas City, and St. Louis all beginning in January. Monterey gets a new nonstop connection to Los Angeles, Los Cabos sees new service to Sacramento, and Cancun gains a link to Kansas City as well this winter. Whether these routes are seasonal only or go year-round remains to be seen, but it's looking like Puerto Vallarta at least, is beginning to look like a focus city for the eskimo-clad carrier.
Domestically speaking, Sacramento gets a seasonal route to Tucson with Alaska-branded Skywest Embraer 175's, and mainline nonstop service to the mouse house in Orlando. New Orleans completes its hub links with hopefully year-round sustained mainline service to Portland, while Orlando will also see a very odd nonstop option to Boise, Idaho.
Schedule Realignments
Naturally, with the combined route map and flights, schedules are set to be optimized. AAG has retimed and retooled quite a few flights to and from the islands to the mainland, and connections to the Midwest and East Coast are now more in sync. The addition of new red-eye service from Maui to San Diego as well as additional red-eyes from both Honolulu and Maui to Portland and San Francisco should lower connection times and make an entire journey from the islands to the East Coast especially, far easier than connecting elsewhere with other carriers.
In addition, AAG will take 737's off the Seattle to Honolulu flights, replacing them with Hawaiian A330-200's, and the A321NEO from Honolulu to Sacramento will be upgauged to the A330 as well. Also, to take advantage of heavier passenger and cargo loads, Hawaiian A330's will now fly domestically between Seattle and Anchorage, bringing the total number of flights to 18 daily roundtrips by Summer 2025.
Lounges
Another one of the first things AAG has announced along with the global gateway project is a new "Flagship" International Lounge in Seattle. Details are few but, I'm suspecting this will be aimed specifically at the premium passengers on the new long haul flights starting up. Where will it fit in Seattle is currently up in the air, but if anything it better be somewhere near the S Concourse, as they are the only gates capable of holding multiple widebodies without closing down multiple gates on either side, such as on the N Concourse.
Which leads me into a perfect segway to AAG's trademarking of a lounge concept called "Atmos", which was filed for trademark on September 20, 2024. This might be the name of the new Flagship Lounge, or it might be a complete revamp and rename of the entire Alaska Lounge network (which was already renamed from The Boardroom in 2016).
On the topic of new lounges, AAG is opening lounges in both San Diego and in Honolulu under the Alaska Lounge moniker. The San Diego lounge might be the first to open, and is slated to be taking over the former Admirals Club/Aspire Lounge location, between Terminal 2 East's Security checkpoint and the bridge to Terminal 2 West. There's also rumours that, instead of the Aspire Lounge space, AAG will take over the SkyClub space from Delta as they move to Terminal 1 and Alaska takes over Terminal 2 West. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, as San Diego is, as I've said before, Alaska's biggest non-hub focus city with 40 some-odd destinations served nonstop.
Honolulu is also getting its first Alaska Lounge as well. If it's in a part of the terminal close to their gates, or taking over either of Hawaiian's Plumeria or Apt. 1929 Lounges hasn't been determined yet, but with the unveiling of the new International "Flagship" Lounge concept, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Apt. 1929 Lounge shuttered.
The Travel Genius Opinion:
2025 is shaping up to be a banner year in the history of the Alaska Air Group, and Alaska Airlines in particular. It's been a while since I've seen this kind of enthusiasm from an airline, its employees, and most of all, from it's core fliers. New routes, new lounges, a refreshed outlook, it's looking like it's going to be a good time to be a passenger on Alaska/Hawaiian for the near term.
In terms of what I'd like to see onboard, I sincerely hope the A330's stay and get a cabin refresh, as the business class up front has been around since Hawaiian started flying the type in 2009. As Hawaiian only has 2 Boeing 787-9's on property right now, with another 10 ordered. I can only hope the long-haul plan reverts back to an Airbus stable, as I am just not a fan of any variant of the 787, and I know a lot of travelers aren't as well. Oh well, a guy can hope, right?
I would personally LOVE to see year-round nonstops with AAG from Seattle to Helsinki and London. It would definitely make this globetrotter's life much easier than connecting through LAX, Chicago/O'Hare, or Dallas/Ft. Worth. Where the next set of long haul destinations is set after Tokyo and Seoul are launched is anyone's guess, but man, I'd love to see those gorgeous A330's make their way to Europe, especially.
I'm very interested in what develops with this "Atmos" concept. It sounds like they just axed off half of the word "atmosphere" and trademarked it to make it sound cool for the hipsters and Gen Z'ers. I kinda like it though, it sounds like what an airline lounge should be, an atmosphere of its own for passengers with access. I hope to be among them.
I'm a network planning nut, going back to my days at Continental Airlines. I love rendering route maps and getting new routes going. Within Alaska's network are several airports I'd dearly love to see more service out of. Everett/Paine Field, WA is one of them. I'd love to see nonstop service to Salt Lake City, Santa Rosa, Boise, Fairbanks, and Denver happen. Hell, a resumption of service to Spokane would be fantastic too, and it always made money. Speaking of Salt Lake City, I'd love to see a resumption of service to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Boise. Perhaps even a shot at New York/JFK now that jetBlue has gone down to one flight a day? Pretty please with a cherry on top? On the topic of JFK, now that we've added Hawaiian to the network, any chance we will see the Honolulu nonstop move over to Terminal 7? Maybe new nonstop service to San Jose, Sacramento, or Las Vegas? Granted, I'm just throwing darts at a map on those last three, but stranger things have happened in this industry, have they not?
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