The carrier's service between Everett and Palm Springs begins Nov. 5. Horizon Air, Alaska Airlines' regional partner, will fly one daily round-trip flight on Embraer E175 jets.
News of the new destination from Paine Field comes only about three months after Alaska Airlines began flying from the airport. When Alaska’s service debuted there on March 5, it became the first carrier in decades to offer regularly scheduled passenger service from the airfield – perhaps best known for also being the home to Boeing’s widebody assembly line.
United has since joined the lineup at Everett, where a new two-gate passenger terminal was built to accommodate passenger service.
Alaska’s initial Paine Field schedule featured 18 daily flights to eight destinations: Las Vegas; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and the California destinations of Los Angeles, Orange County/Santa Ana, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose.
Now, Alaska says it’s adding Palm Springs because of customer demand.
“Hands down, Palm Springs was number one on our guests’ wish list for the next destination from Paine Field,” Noelle Fredrickson, Alaska Airlines’ general manager of network planning and strategy, said in a statement.“After three months of flying at Everett, we thought this was a good time to make adjustments to improve the flying experiences for our guests. And hopefully make some people really happy.”
None of the Alaska's existing Paine Field routes will be dropped to make way for Palm Springs, but the carrier will trim one daily flight from its schedules between Everett and Los Angeles and Portland. Alaska currently offers four flight a day on each route.
The two dropped frequencies will be replaced with the new route to Palm Springs and with a second daily flight to Phoenix, which Alaska currently serves from Everett with just one daily round trip.
“The adjustment enables us to add the new round-trips to Palm Springs and Phoenix, while staying within our limit of 18 daily departures at Paine Field,” the airline said in its statement.
When Alaska Airlines announced its intention to add service from Everett back in May 2017, the company said the move would be attractive for customers on the north side of Seattle. Traffic has become a major nuisance in the booming metro area, frequently choking the highways that run from the city’s northern suburbs to Seattle-Tacoma International, the region’s primary airport that sits about 15 miles south of the city. Everett, by contrast, is about 25 miles north of Seattle.
Seattle-Tacoma, of course, also is Alaska Airlines busiest hub. But passenger levels there have surged amid the ongoing turf battle between Alaska and partner-turned-rival Delta, which has opened its own hub there. Everett has been touted as an easy-in, easy-out small airport attractive for customers taking shorter flights within the West.
"More than one million travelers who live north of Seattle will enjoy shorter commutes to Paine Field instead of heading farther south to Sea-Tac Airport," Alaska Airlines said last year when it first put tickets on sale there.
