Alaska adds 2 new Orange County routes, grows to 7 nonstop routes at Southern California airport

Alaska Airlines is strengthening its position in Southern California with the addition of two new routes.

The carrier will add service from John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County to Tucson International Airport (TUS) and Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) on Dec. 14, as seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.

The new Tucson service will be operated daily through April 16 by regional affiliate Skywest Airlines, while flights to Bozeman will be operated by fully owned subsidiary Horizon Air five times a week through March 30, 2024. Both carriers will deploy a 76-seat Embraer E175 on the routes.

Though Alaska hasn't served either route before, Southwest Airlines did fly between Orange County and Bozeman two winters ago, but that route hasn't returned since. Assuming nothing changes, Alaska will enjoy a monopoly on both routes during the upcoming winter season.

Boosting service from Orange County gives Alaska a competitive advantage among locals and visitors who prefer to avoid the much larger and busier Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Plus, Alaska can further tap into the airport's catchment area, which is one of the most affluent in the nation. (American Airlines made headlines during the pandemic for launching a new transcontinental flight to New York, operated by its swankiest three-cabin jet.)

Together with the new routes, Alaska will offer a total of seven destinations from John Wayne, as seen in the list below:

• Bozeman.
• Everett, Washington.
• Portland.
• San Francisco.
• Santa Rosa, California.
• Seattle.
• Tucson.

Over the years, and especially after its takeover of Virgin America, Alaska has tried to position itself as the airline for Californians. The airline has boosted service across the state, has offered lucrative targeted frequent flyer promotions and has even added a flight pass subscription for locals who fly frequently.

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Orange County is a key airport as part of that strategy, and destinations like Bozeman and Tucson will likely appeal to those looking for a winter adventure — whether it's skiing or snowboarding — or an escape to the sunshine of the Sonoran Desert.

"We're always looking at new routes to connect our guests, and we see a lot of potential with our new nonstop between sunny Orange County and sunny Tucson," Kirsten Amrine, Alaska's vice president of revenue management and network planning, said in a statement. "There's plenty to enjoy in Southern California and the desert of Arizona, especially when we begin this new flight in the winter as the weather is turning nearly everywhere else," Amrine added.

As for the new route to Montana, Alaska's existing flights to Bozeman have been performing well, according to a carrier spokesperson, so a new winter seasonal route to one of the best skiing areas in the country should do well, too.

That said, Alaska's growth at John Wayne Airport has some bounds.

Though there's no federally administered slot program at SNA in the traditional sense (to control capacity), the Orange County authorities use slots to limit the amount of air traffic in the area for noise abatement and other reasons.

For 2023, Alaska was awarded 24 average daily departures from SNA Airport, nine of which need to be operated by SkyWest and seven of which must be operated by Horizon Air.

The airline didn't remove any flights or cancel any routes during its most recent schedule load, though it's possible that cuts are coming to make room for the new flights.

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