Yippee! Alaska Air adds direct flight to Hawaii _______________________________________________
By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA
Anchorage Daily News
Published: May 31, 2007
Last Modified: May 31, 2007 at 11:38 AM
Alaska Airlines announced today that it will start offering daily flights direct from Anchorage to Hawaii.
It also will offer flights from Seattle to Honolulu and Kauai.
Alaska Airlines CEO Bill Ayer hands out leis to customers at an Alaska Airlines ticket counter, Thursday, May 31, 2007, at Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle. Alaska Airlines announced Thursday that the company will start flying to Hawaii later this year, offering daily year-round nonstop flights from Seattle to Honolulu and Lihue on the island of Kauai starting in October, and seasonal service from Anchorage to Honolulu beginning in December.
Seasonal service between Anchorage and Honolulu will start Dec. 9, the airline said, with special rates of $159 each way, plus taxes and other fees, for those who purchase tickets by Saturday.
The daily service is scheduled to last through April 13 for the first year. Beginning in the fall of 2008, the Anchorage-Honolulu flights will operate from October to April, said an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman.
The airline says it will begin offering year-round, daily flights from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Honolulu on Oct. 22.
And daily flights from Seattle to Lihue, on the island of Kauai, start Oct. 28. The Lihue flights will be the only direct service available from Seattle to Kauai, said Alaska Airlines vice president Bill MacKay.
Similar special fares will launch those routes.
The announcement came with a lot of hoopla at the Anchorage airport this morning -- including real leis and fake blow-up palm trees.
MacKay said Hawaii is the biggest market out of Seattle and Anchorage that Alaska doesn’t yet serve. “We know it’s a very popular destination,” he said, adding that he's hopeful it will help out Alaska Air’s bottom line.
Alaska’s regular fares will be competitive with Hawaiian Vacations, MacKay said. Hawaiian flies year-round between Hawaii and Anchorage.
Alaska Air set the stage last year for the long, isolated routes over water. It started buying 737-800 jets, a kind that can fly longer distances, and sought FAA approval to fly them on routes far from emergency-landing sites.
The distance between Anchorage and Honolulu is 2,780 miles, well within the range of the new jets.
The special rate for the Anchorage-Honolulu route applies to tickets bought between now and Saturday for travel to take place by Feb. 14.
The holiday season between Dec. 16 and Jan. 6 is a blackout period. The flights will leave Anchorage at 3:20 p.m., arriving in Honolulu at 8:40 p.m. Return flights will leave Honolulu at 10:10 p.m. and arrive n Anchorage at 5:30 a.m. Specials on the Seattle flights, with all the caveats that apply to the Anchorage flights, include a fare of $109 each way to Honolulu and $149 each way to Kauai.
Reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com and 257-4340 |
