Alaska Airlines makeover: Asia flights coming to Seattle hub, premium credit card and more

The integration of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines has officially commenced, and with it comes some serious changes to how the two carriers have historically operated.

It starts with combining and expanding the two networks, which will soon see Seattle turned into an international gateway, among other changes. The merger will also bring about some big upgrades to the premium experience offered by the carriers, along with other changes to loyalty, fleeting and more.

Now that the integration is underway, Alaska Airlines is hosting an investor day in New York to share more about its vision for how the combined airlines will operate.

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Here’s everything you need to know about the so-called “Alaska Accelerate” growth strategy.

Long-haul flights from Seattle

Headlining the announcement is that Alaska will turn its hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) into an international gateway.

That means the airline will launch long-haul flights from Seattle. Its inaugural destination, Tokyo’s Narita Internatrional Airport, will take off on May 12, and seats will be available for purchase on Tuesday.

The airline will then follow up with another long-haul route to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport (ICN) beginning in October. This route will go on sale early next year.

Alaska will deploy Hawaiian Airlines’ Airbus A330-200s on its inaugural transpacific routes from Seattle. The flights will operate using Hawaiian flight numbers until the two carriers get a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. Both flights will be bookable via Alaska and Hawaiian channels.

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Map changes: Alaska Airlines cuts one of its newest routes from Everett’s Paine Field

Note that the aircraft used for these flights may change as Hawaiian adds more widebodies to its fleet, a carrier spokesperson told TPG.

Speaking about this expansion, Alaska Airlines chief commercial officer Andrew Harrison told TPG in an interview that Seattle is the sixth-largest domestic gateway for flights to Asia and Oceania, while Europe is the tenth. Plus, “the beauty of it is that both Narita and Seoul are already served by Hawaiian, so all the infrastructure, the airports, all of that stuff is already plug and play.”

He added that “Seattle is the largest West Coast hub of any U.S. carrier. We’re two times Delta’s North American seats, we have 28% more seats than United in San Francisco. And then the other thing is that the fastest way to Asia is over Seattle. Not San Francisco and Los Angeles.”

As part of this announcement, Alaska will move Hawaiian’s existing flights from Hawaii to Narita to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) instead. This will operate on a twice-daily basis.

“We’re going to move the Narita slot to Seattle, and the Honolulu to Narita was losing a fair bit of money, and so moving it up to Seattle with a point of sale strength in the U.S., we believe is going to be accretive from day one,” he said.

Two other tail winds that support long-haul expansion in Seattle are managed corporate travel and cargo, Harrison said.

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Speaking about corporate travel, Harrison shared that “the corporate managed accounts for Alaska Airlines spend over $300 million a year on international travel alone out of Seattle, and our top five corporates spend $200 million. That is corporate travel that we do not participate in today that we can directly participate in tomorrow.”

As for cargo, Harrison didn’t share any numbers, but the airline says that these new routes will also cater to strong cargo demand.

While Alaska will start with two transpacific destinations from Seattle, the carrier is promising that by 2030, it’ll have at least 12 long-haul routes from the city.

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The airline will also add new nonstop routes from San Francisco to both Kona on Hawaii’s “Big Island” and Lihue on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Kona service will operate four times weekly beginning on June 12, while Lihue flights will operate three times a week starting on June 13.

Alaska will also increase utilization of Hawaiian’s Airbus A321s, A330s and Boeing 787s in the coming months. (The airline says that Hawaiian’s Airbus A321s will fly 25% more than they did before the merger.)

In terms of the fleet, Alaska spent recent years consolidating its operations to Boeing 737 aircraft. The Hawaiian integration undoes those synergies since the Honolulu-based carrier operates Airbus A321s and A330s. Hawaiian also flies Boeing 717s, which Alaska does not have.

That said, Harrison says the carrier has a plan for its new consolidated fleet.

“The Boeing 737-8, -9 and -10 are really very ideal aircraft for the historical Alaska network… The Boeing 787s are perfect for longer-haul growth… The only aircraft that’s in the near-field here is the Boeing 717 operating neighboring island service, which we are going to have to look at replacing.”

As for the remaining Airbus A330s and A321s, Alaska seems content to keep them deployed in existing markets.

Premium economy is coming

Now that Alaska Airlines will fly across the ocean, the airline says that it needs an international premium economy product.

Hawaiian opted not to install premium economy on its Airbus A330s or new Boeing 787s, so these jets will undergo a retrofit program to install this popular cabin in the coming years. “They’re very much under-premium,” Harrison said about Hawaiian’s cabin configurations.

The details and timeline are still in the air, but adding premium economy to these planes should come as no surprise.

This intermediate cabin between business class and economy has soared in popularity (and profitability) in recent years.

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“The premium economy cabin on international routes is sometimes spoken to as one of the most profitable cabins. It’s just a real sweet spot and there’s demand for that type of product,” according to Harrison.

Details are mum about what travelers can expect from this new card, but waitlist sign-ups start today at alaskaair.com/premium-card. Travelers who join the waitlist before Dec. 31, 2024, will enjoy an exclusive offer, Alaska said.

Lounge look: Is this new space the best Alaska Airlines club in the country?

It’ll be interesting to see how Alaska markets this new lounge when it opens. In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of business-class-only lounges, so it’s possible that this facility will be reserved for those seated in the pointy end of the plane paying the big bucks (or miles).

Alaska already announced premium upgrades coming to its fleet with more premium- and first-class seats, and this announcement builds on that work that’s already underway.