Alaska Airways has been within the information currently for the provider’s proposed merger with Hawaiian Airways, a transfer that Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci mentioned will “develop choices for West Coast and Hawai’i vacationers.”
However nobody wished to speak about that Friday morning, when Alaska Airways celebrated inaugural flights to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, from each Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) and Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX).
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As a substitute, the songs, speeches and snacks all invoked the “It is higher within the Bahamas” vibe.
“We had been in search of someplace new to fly that might appeal to individuals within the wintertime, and the Caribbean appeared preferred a good selection,” Kirsten Amrine, Alaska Airways’ vp of income administration and community planning, mentioned throughout a gate-side interview in Seattle. “With our success with Belize and Costa Rica flights and now shifting a bit additional east, it simply matches rather well into our portfolio,” she added.
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The 2 new seasonal flights to the Bahamas are Alaska’s first flights to the Caribbean. They are going to function 4 instances per week from LAX and thrice per week from SEA on Boeing 737-9 plane via April 9, 2024.
Flights depart LA and Seattle within the morning and arrive at Nassau’s Lyden Pindling Worldwide Airport (NAS) within the late afternoon. Nassau’s airport is a U.S. Preclearance facility, so Seattle- and LA-bound passengers clear customs and immigration earlier than boarding and bypass customs on arrival within the U.S.
The flight from Seattle to Nassau can also be notable as a result of it is Alaska’s a hundred and first nonstop vacation spot from its hometown airport and the primary service from SEA to the Caribbean.
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“The plan is to supply the flights between Thanksgiving and spring break for now, and we’ll see what occurs from there,” Amrine mentioned.
The Bahamas consists of greater than 700 islands, 16 of that are marketed to vacationers. Arriving passengers on Alaska Airways flights to Nassau can hook up with different islands by way of Bahamasair, one in all Alaska’s world accomplice airways, for experiences that may embody swimming with pigs or diving on the Andros Barrier Reef.
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From the West Coast of the U.S., Hawaii has been the longtime go-to vacation spot for solar and snorkeling. Through the winter, Alaska Airways has been capable of assist as much as 33 flights per day from Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California.
Fourteen of these flights are from Seattle — 13 from SEA and one from Seattle Paine Subject Worldwide Airport (PAE) in Everett. Whereas it at first appears counterintuitive to fly east for seaside climate, “a flight to Nassau from Seattle takes nearly the identical time as a flight to Hawaii,” Pleasure Jibrilu, CEO of Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board, mentioned. “So, Seattle vacationers are nearer than ever to experiencing the wonders of Nassau and Paradise Island, with pristine, white sandy seashores, wealthy Bahamian tradition, pleasant cuisines and world-class casinos,” she mentioned.
In reality, it seems that it might be sooner to fly east to Nassau from Seattle and LA than it’s to fly to Honolulu or Maui from each cities.
Alaska Airways flights from Seattle to Maui and from Seattle to Honolulu clock in at about six hours and half-hour. In keeping with the scheduled instances listed on Alaska Airways’ web site, the brand new flight from Seattle to Nassau will take six hours and quarter-hour, though the inaugural flight made the journey in 5 hours and half-hour. The scheduled flight time from LA to Nassau is even shorter: simply 5 hours and quarter-hour.
This vacation season, Alaska Airways is introducing a number of different new nonstop routes.
On Thursday, the provider started year-round, every day service between LA and Guatemala Metropolis. The identical day, the provider celebrated new seasonal service between Las Vegas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; a day later, it kicked off seasonal service between Las Vegas and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
