Alaska Airways is doubling down on its fast-growing hubs in San Diego and Portland, Oregon — the place final week it revealed a dozen new locations.
However it’s not excellent news all over the place.
To unencumber planes for the airline’s newest 13-route enlargement, the provider is pulling again a bit in California’s two largest cities.
Over the weekend, the Seattle-based provider advised TPG it is reducing a handful of routes out of each San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO) and Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) — information first reported by industry-watcher Ishrion Aviation.
“These changes are firmly rooted within the should be disciplined with our plane in 2026, as fewer new plane enter our fleet,” an Alaska spokesperson mentioned in an announcement. “Though these selections are troublesome, SFO and LAX stay key markets for us.”
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Alaska Airways route cuts
Whereas Alaska didn’t verify the precise routes it deliberate to chop, Cirium schedules up to date this weekend and reviewed by TPG confirmed the airline deliberate to get rid of a complete of 5 routes from SFO and 4 from LAX.
These routes are:
- SFO to Austin-Bergstrom Worldwide Airport (AUS)
- SFO to Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS)
- SFO to Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR)
- SFO to Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR)
- SFO to Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO)
- LAX to Cancun Worldwide Airport (CUN)
- LAX to Las Vegas’ Harry Reid Worldwide Airport (LAS)
- LAX to Reno-Tahoe Worldwide Airport (RNO)
- LAX to San Jose Mineta Worldwide Airport (SJC)
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The community cuts Alaska filed for its SFO hub included a handful of transcontinental flights to main U.S. markets from the New York Metropolis space to Boston and Orlando.
Alaska’s LAX flight cuts are targeted on regional jet service, a spokesperson mentioned.
Moreover, Cirium schedules confirmed the provider won’t deliver again its seasonal service from Anchorage to Detroit in 2026.
And it’ll finish service on three Mexican locations from San Jose, California: Puerto Vallarta, San Jose del Cabo and Guadalajara.
Learn extra: Alaska Airways’ precious factors — and award chart — survive Atmos Rewards: ‘Not making an attempt to hoodwink anyone’
West Coast shake-up
That is all half of a bigger community shake-up for Alaska on the West Coast. In latest months, the provider has considerably grown its footprint at each San Diego Worldwide Airport (SAN) and Portland Worldwide Airport (PDX).
That included a protracted checklist of latest locations the 2 airports collectively landed on Alaska final week.
However with a finite variety of planes, these SAN and PDX expansions have come on the expense of LAX and SFO — each way more aggressive airports, and main hubs for the legacy U.S. carriers.
SFO is a serious hub for United Airways. United, American Airways and Delta Air Strains every function hubs out of LAX.
This revamping of Alaska’s West Coast community is one which the airline has seemingly been weighing for months.
Chatting with TPG this summer season, Alaska’s prime community planner cited alternatives to develop connecting visitors in Portland — and rising buyer affinity for its loyalty program in San Diego — as prime causes that the airline had turned its consideration to these cities.
In San Francisco, although?
“I believe we’re in a holding sample there,” Kirsten Amrine, vp of income administration and community planning, advised TPG in a late-July interview.
“There’s solely so many airplanes on the planet and I simply assume that we’ve extra alternative in San Diego and Portland,” Amrine mentioned. “However [SFO] continues to be a hub for us. We nonetheless have our lounge, which opened simply final yr … It is undoubtedly nonetheless a spotlight for us.”
To Amrine’s level, Alaska in 2024 minimize the ribbon on a brand new 11,000-square-foot Alaska Lounge in SFO’s new Harvey Milk Terminal.
An Alaska spokesperson on Saturday known as the airport a “essential a part of our long-term progress,” citing “constructive indicators” of a rebound in enterprise journey and “wholesome” vacation bookings, to this point.
TPG’s Zach Griff and Edward Russell contributed reporting for this story.
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