By John McDermott
Alaska Airlines Adds New Destinations From Anchorage
Alaska Airlines has announced several new routes from its Anchorage hub, the airline announced in a statement on Wednesday. The routes, which the airline dubs “sun and fun” routes, include flights to popular tourist destinations: in addition to expanding their route to Phoenix, Arizona, the airline is adding new flights to Las Vegas, Denver and San Francisco.
When all the new routes are added, Alaska’s route map from Anchorage will include Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix and Portland.
“The newly announced routes will connect Anchorage to more places that offer warm sunshine, big city vibes and the sky’s the limit on what to do,” the airline’s statement said.
“The demand for leisure travel in 2021 is beginning to return as our guests look ahead, and we’re offering even more nonstops to take Alaskans to the places they want to go,” said Marilyn Romano, Alaska Airlines’ regional vice president. “We believe our guests will love the convenient nonstops to Vegas, Denver and San Francisco, in addition to our daily nonstop flight to Phoenix that’s now set to fly year-round.”
Denver and San Francisco will both be seasonal, while the airline will serve Las Vegas year-round. Phoenix, currently a seasonal destination from Anchorage, will be served daily year-round.
Flights to Las Vegas will begin on May 20, 2021. They will operate daily Thursday through Sunday. Denver and San Francisco will both be served from June 17 through Aug. 16 and will be flown daily.
“More than 1,800 Alaska Airlines employees call Alaska home, making our connections to the communities we serve here very personal. We’re here in good times and in difficult times,” Romano said. “We’re honored to play our role to make sure this life-saving vaccine gets to the people who need it most as quickly and safely as possible.”
Alaska highlighted that its new routes will be supported by its efforts to transport newly-approved coronavirus vaccines across Alaska, which could help travelers slowly start to gravitate to these warm destinations after months of being stuck inside by stay-at-home orders.
The announcement comes soon after Qatar Airways announced service to Alaska Airlines’ Seattle hub. Qatar plans to operate codeshares with Alaska that will help passengers transfer from Qatar’s flight onto Alaska’s route network from Seattle, which includes Anchorage. Qatar’s new route could continue Alaska’s expansions into notably warm tourist destinations and could be popular with Alaskans looking for new vacation destinations.
John McDermott is a student at Northwestern University. He is also a student pilot with hopes of flying for the airlines. A self-proclaimed “avgeek,” John will rave about aviation at length to whoever will listen, and he is keen to call out any airplane he sees, whether or not anyone around him cares about flying at all. John previously worked as a Journalist and Editor-In-Chief at Aeronautics Online Aviation News and Media. In his spare time, John enjoys running, photography, and watching planes approach Chicago O’Hare from over Lake Michigan.
