Alaska Airways is betting that you’ll chase the solar this winter.
The Seattle-based service simply introduced an growth within the Caribbean and Mexico, together with its first-ever flights to the Bahamas and two notable new routes from Las Vegas.
The airline is including service to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, starting on Dec. 15. The airline will serve this standard leisure vacation spot from each Los Angeles and Seattle, utilizing Boeing 737 plane, by means of April 9, 2024.
The Bahamas represents the a hundred and first vacation spot that Alaska serves from Seattle, and this 2,887-mile route is enabled by the Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane, which may comfortably function these roughly seven-hour flights.
Service from Los Angeles will function 4 occasions every week, whereas flights from Seattle will function thrice every week.
Alaska will largely get pleasure from a monopoly on each routes. JetBlue simply introduced a nonstop flight (on a Mint enterprise class-equipped Airbus A321) from Los Angeles to Nassau, nevertheless it’ll solely function as soon as every week on Saturdays starting Nov. 4.
Aside from the JetBlue flight, Alaska would be the solely airline working in each markets.
“We’re excited so as to add a brand new dot to our route map and imagine our company will respect the comfort of nonstop service to the Bahamas this winter,” stated Kirsten Amrine, vice chairman of income administration and community planning for Alaska Airways, in a press release. “Whether or not our company select to remain in Nassau, or enterprise to the outer islands, the pristine seashores and crystal clear waters of the Bahamas await.”
Along with the Bahamas flights, Alaska is including two new routes from Las Vegas, marking its first worldwide service from this gateway. It will add service to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, respectively. (This seasonal service ends on April 9, 2024, and April 10, 2024, respectively.)
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Each new routes will function 4 occasions every week on Embraer E175 regional jets, which have a first-class cabin, an extra-legroom premium financial system cabin and a regular financial system cabin.
Frontier Airways used to fly between Las Vegas and each Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, however these two routes have been suspended since October 2022, Cirium schedules present.
Assuming that Frontier would not reenter the market, Alaska will get pleasure from a monopoly on its new worldwide service from Las Vegas.
For the reason that coronavirus pandemic started, Alaska Airways has struggled to fill a few of its business-focused flights, particularly from Seattle, the place large tech corporations resembling Microsoft and Amazon have considerably in the reduction of on journey.
As a substitute of sitting round and ready for enterprise journey to return, Alaska will level a few of its airplanes at leisure locations this winter. That should not come as a shock to aviation observers, as Alaska Airways CEO Ben Minicucci stated through the airline’s first-quarter earnings name that it might change its community to mirror this new actuality.
The airline already unveiled three leisure-focused routes earlier this month: Miami to Portland, Oregon; New York to Palm Springs, California; and Las Vegas to San Luis Obispo, California. Now, this newest batch of flights will attraction to vacationers searching for a short-haul worldwide journey.
In truth, Alaska says in its Tuesday announcement that “there is a persevering with sturdy demand by vacationers who need to enterprise to leisure locations – whether or not it’s a brief aircraft flight alongside the West Coast or heading to a distant worldwide location.”
The brand new flights are already out there for reserving on Alaska’s web site.
For a restricted time, introductory fares between Los Angeles and Nassau begin at $169 one-way, whereas introductory fares between Seattle and Nassau begin at $199 one-way.
Flights from Las Vegas to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta begin at $139 one-way.
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