Alaska Air Group is establishing Seattle as a new global gateway with the unveiling of new nonstop routes on Hawaiian Airlines to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon. The Group has also released a combined spring/summer schedule with improved connectivity to Hawaiʻi.
On Tuesday (December 10, 2024), Alaska Air Group announced the establishment of Seattle (SEA) as a new global gateway with the introduction of new nonstop Hawaiian Airlines flights to Tokyo Narita (NRT) and Seoul Incheon (ICN) airports. Daily direct service between Seattle and Tokyo Narita will start on May 12, 2025, while nonstop service between Seattle and Seoul Incheon is scheduled to commence in October 2025. Both routes will be operated with a Hawaiian Airlines widebody Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Inbound customers to Tokyo will also enjoy seamless one-stop connections to other Asian destinations with Alaska’s oneworld partner airline, Japan Airlines.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Alaska Air Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Minicucci, said,
“We believe our guests will be as excited as we are about these new nonstop flights to Tokyo and Seoul – two of the world’s most dynamic cities. From our global gateway in Seattle, we can conveniently connect travelers from across our network as they head to Asia and beyond. Hawaiian’s spacious widebody aircraft, along with its excellent onboard service and amenities, will make for a terrific trip from one side of the pacific rim to the other.”
Alaska Air Group’s Seattle hub is the largest on the West Coast of any airline, offering direct service to 104 destinations across North America. Along with Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, the Group plans to serve at least 12 nonstop global destinations with long-haul widebody jets from their Seattle gateway by 2030.
With the combined spring/summer 2025 schedule, the Group will offer 20 percent more seats between Seattle and Honolulu, with three of the six daily nonstop flights to be operated with a widebody Hawaiian Airlines aircraft. The carrier will also improve connectivity to Hawaiʻi from San Diego with mid-morning and late afternoon departures to Maui, instead of just morning departures, and newly timed mid-afternoon and redeye departures from Maui.
East Coast and Midwest customers will also see improved connectivity to Hawaiʻi with better one-stop West Coast connections before departing for the islands. In addition to the new redeye flights between Maui and San Diego, Air Group is adding three more overnight flights from Hawaiʻi to the west Coast, including Honolulu and Maui to Portland, and Honolulu to San Francisco.
Alaska is also adding new nonstop flights between San Francisco and both Kona on Hawai‘i Island and Līhu‘e on Kauaʻi. The San Francisco-Kona route will operate four times weekly from June 12th, while the Francisco-Līhuʻe service will operate three times weekly starting June 13, 2025. With the added services, Alaska will offer four daily direct flights to four main Hawaiian islands from San Francisco.
To improve fleet utilization, the Group has also increased the number of hours Hawaiian’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Airbus A321 aircraft fly daily, with the A321s flying 25 percent more than before. This strategy has been implemented to mitigate the impact of delayed Boeing 737 MAX Family jets. Alaska and Hawaiian continue work to secure a single operating certificate form the FAA, with the process expected to be complete by October 2025. Until that time, each airline will continue to operate separately, and even after the single AOC is issues, the company will keep both beloved brands and their unique identities.
Source: Alaska Air Group