Big news this morning from Alaska Airlines. The carrier plans to begin service to Charleston, Raleigh/Durham, and Nashville from its Seattle hub. Each of these cities, especially Raleigh/Durham, are big Delta markets and have historical service connections to Delta. According to Alaska’s press release, “Our loyal customers tell us they want new and exciting non-stop destinations, and we are listening,” said John Kirby, the airline’s vice president of capacity planning. “We’re pleased to be adding new non-stop service to three highly-requested business and leisure destinations not currently served nonstop from Seattle. Nonstop flights equate to shorter travel times and more convenience for our customers.” Here’s a summary of the new services, which begin this fall.
Summary chart courtesy of Alaska Airlines
In an interesting tweak, no doubt aimed at Delta, the press release noted “By this fall, Seattle’s largest airline will serve 83 destinations from Seattle with 290 peak daily flights—two-and-a half times that of Alaska’s nearest competitor.” (emphasis mine)
While Alaska doesn’t have a natural history in these markets, their reputation for reliable and friendly service will likely serve them well as they expand. While Seattle-RDU probably makes the most sense to me from a financial perspective, one has to wonder just how much busier Seattle is going to get with the intense rivalry developing between Alaska and Delta. Interesting times in Seattle for sure. This could be fun to watch.
-MJ, April 28, 2015
DL v AL in SEA is kind of like China v Vietnam and Philippines in the South China Sea. Throwing your weight around isn’t always the best strategy.
The Seattle-Charleston route could very well be due to Boeing, connecting their Charleston factory with Seattle.
They will have the same problem on these routes as they do with the STL-SEA and MCI-SEA routes. The times don’t work well for many connections. Many times the routes getting into SEA are too late for many connections down the West Coast or on to Hawaii so you have overnight connections. They should also push the evening flights out of SEA a little later so that more commuters can catch those late in the day (although these times are better than some West coast to Eastward departures.
Don’t forget bwi to lax begins in September!
Southwest has SEA-BNA nonstop