Alaska Airlines bolsters West Coast flying with 7-route expansion across 12 cities

Alaska Airlines is doubling down on its West Coast roots with more than a half dozen new flights connecting a slew of cities in California, Oregon and Washington.

The Seattle-based carrier on Thursday announced an expansion that will bolster its footprint in Burbank and California's wine country, as well as add a new link between Southern California and Idaho ski country.

In total, this makes seven new routes for Alaska, all of which will launch between late October and early January.

Filling a void in Burbank

Alaska's growth will see the airline fill a void left by Avelo Airlines at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), after the budget carrier earlier this month announced it would abandon its West Coast network.

That said, Alaska also sees this expansion as an extension of its tried-and-true strategy of linking West Coast cities, including in the nation's most populous state, California.

"We're willing to fly these point-to-point routes, and believe it helps us gain loyalty with our guests," Kirsten Amrine, Alaska's vice president of revenue management and network planning, told TPG in an interview.

Among Alaska's new routes is a nonstop service between San Diego and Sun Valley, Idaho. Amrine noted that this follows a successful "ski strategy" playbook that worked well last year on flights between the Southern California city and Vail, Colorado.

"I think it also gives us more of a premium edge in San Diego as we think about our brand versus others," she said.

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Alaska Airlines' 7 new routes

Here's the full rundown of Alaska's new routes announced Thursday.

Alaska's regional subsidiary, Horizon Air, will operate each of the seven routes with its fleet of Embraer 175 regional jets. It offers a dozen first-class recliners at the front of the plane, with 16 of its Premium (extra-legroom) seats and 48 seats in the main cabin.

Alaska will have at least some competition on its three new Burbank routes: Low-cost carrier Breeze Airways launched that same trio of flights out of the suburban Los Angeles-area airport following Avelo's departure.

Even prior to Thursday's announcement, Alaska's total number of departures between California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington was scheduled to rise 9% this coming winter versus last winter, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

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How to book these flights with Alaska miles

Speaking of loyalty: For customers hoping to book these flights through Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, most of the flights in Thursday's announcement start at 7,500 miles one-way for economy redemptions.

Travelers with a stash of miles with Hawaiian Airlines can still seamlessly transfer those miles to Alaska's Mileage Plan following the two airlines' merger next year.

Alaska Air Group, parent company of the Alaska and Hawaiian brands, plans to announce a brand-new, combined loyalty program by mid-August, executives said last week on the company's second-quarter earnings call.

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