After just eight months of serving the Salt Lake City (SLC) market from their home base of Seattle (SEA), Alaska Airlines Group has announced an expansion of their service from SLC to four west coast destinations. In June 2014, daily flights will commence to Portland (PDX), San Jose (SJC), San Diego (SAN), and Los Angeles (LAX). An additional flight to Seattle (SEA) is also being added, bringing the total number to three each day. Booking for these flights will be available beginning on December 10.
The airline is commemorating this new service expansion by rewarding its Mileage Plan members with double mileage accrual on these selected routes. Alaska Airlines is known to have a modest status-level threshold relative to its competitors in the industry, so this is especially good news for their frequent fliers. To benefit from the promotion, membership must be effective by June 15, 2014.
An Alaska Airlines 737 taxiing at LAX. Photo courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user InSapphoWeTrust
Service between SLC and Portland and the additional flight to SEA will begin on June 9 with the use of Alaska’s Boeing 737 aircraft and their partner, SkyWest Airlines’ CRJ-700 regional jets (the new Seattle flight is a CRJ-700). Flights to San Diego begin on June 10, also with a mix of the Boeing 737 and CRJ-700 aircraft. Boeing 737 service to Los Angeles from SLC begins June 11, while San Jose flights begin the next day, also with a Boeing 737.
It would be difficult not to notice the location of Alaska’s choice for service expansion and the statement that it presents to their codeshare partner, Delta Air Lines. Salt Lake City serves as Delta’s western hub, with flights to nearly 90 domestic and international destinations.This new growth out of Delta’s hub strongly suggests a reactive move from Alaska regarding Delta’s recent uptick in domestic service out of Alaska’s Seattle hub. Within the past year, Delta has added flights to several western markets out of SEA, most of which are considered strongholds for Alaska Airlines. Many believe that what began as a cozy codeshare relationship between strong domestic (Alaska) and international (Delta) airlines in Seattle, has regressed into a partnership complete with the nuances of bitterness and competitiveness.
To be sure, the winners in all of this will be the consumers, particularly those in Seattle and Salt Lake City. With additional service being added by these airlines in both markets, fares are likely to decrease.
About the Author
