US carrier Alaska Airlines has announced that SkyWest Airlines will begin operating flights on six West Coast routes from May 14 using five 70-seat Bombardier CRJ700s acquired from Horizon Air. The alteration to its timetables will enable Horizon Air, a sister carrier to Alaskan, to become an exclusive Dash 8-Q400 operator.
"While it is technically feasible for the Q400 to operate on all routes now served by CRJ700s, it would result in longer flight times," said Andrew Harrison, Vice President of Planning and Revenue Management, Alaska Air Group. "For example, it can take up to 35 minutes longer for a Q400 to fly from Seattle to Southern California, which is longer than we'd like. Most of these routes were formerly served with Alaska Air Group jets, and the CRJ700 jet has proven to be a better fit in these markets."
SkyWest Airlines will offer three flights per week between Portland and Burbank and Ontario, both in California, and flights between Seattle and Fresno, Long Beach, Portland and Santa Brabara. Fresno will be served once daily to rotate the CRJ700s through SkyWest’s maintenance base with Horizon continuing to offer a daily connection as well as a Portland – Fresno link using Q400s. Santa Barbara will have a daily CRJ700 flight from Seattle, Long Beach two (rising to four from June 16), while Portland will have a single daily rotation for positioning purposes only. The latter route will continue to be served by Horizon with 22 roundtrips per day.
The capacity purchase agreement between the two airlines means SkyWest will operate and maintain its aircraft while Alaskan will be responsible for scheduling, pricing and marketing the flights. SkyWest is the third carrier to fly for Alaska Airlines under a capacity purchase agreement, joining Horizon Air and PenAir.
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