Alaska Airlines Adds Salt Lake City to Seattle Network

Alaska Airlines is to launch a new service between its Seattle Tacoma International Airport base and Salt Lake City, further deepening its operational relationship with Delta Air Lines by providing domestic connectivity to one of its US hubs. The carrier will offer a twice daily flight from April 4, 2013 using a Boeing 737-800 configured with 16 Business Class and 141 Economy seats.

"As regional outdoor recreation gateways, Salt Lake City and Seattle have much in common and I look forward to utilizing this great new connection with the Pacific Northwest and points beyond," said Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City mayor. "Alaska Airlines is a fantastic new air travel option for the residents of, and visitors to, Salt Lake City." Like the airline’s hometown of Seattle, Salt Lake City and the surrounding region provides many popular outdoor recreational options, including Zion National Park, Alta Ski Area and Snowbird Ski Resort, to name a few.

Alaska Airlines will be one of only eight scheduled carriers to provide passenger services from Salt Lake City International Airport and it will compete directly with its partner Delta Air Lines, as well as low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines, which has served the route since October 1994. In 2011 an estimated 383,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route, with Delta holding around a 50 per cent share of this traffic and Southwest around 42 per cent.

"Salt Lake City represents the largest market out of Seattle that Alaska Airlines does not currently serve and has been a top request of our customers for more than a decade," said Andrew Harrison, Vice President of Planning and Revenue Management, Alaska Airlines. "With two daily nonstop flights, our customers will enjoy seamless connections to many destinations through Salt Lake City on our partner Delta Air Lines."

In the table below we look at the largest markets from Seattle Tacoma International Airport during the first half of 2012 and highlight the seat capacity Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier Horizon Air have on each of these routes and their market share during the same period. As the airline’s Andrew Harrison revealed, Salt Lake City International is the largest O&D market from Seattle Tacoma International not presently served by the carrier. In fact, it and New York JFK International are the only two airports in the top twenty destinations from Seattle Tacoma International not served by the carrier.