It’s that time of year when the airlines start announcing changes for their summer schedules. I won’t mention all of them, but I will mention the ones that seem notable.
- Horizon Air will operate daily nonstop regional jet flights between Spokane and both Sacramento and Los Angeles on July 1. These flights, which will operate under Alaska Airlines’ code, show Horizon’s further commitment to building up regional flying to airports in California. They’ve built up a heck of an operation at LAX these days. Take a look at their route map here (red lines are Horizon flights).
- Meanwhile, Horizon partner Alaska Airlines will start daily nonstop flights between Portland (Oregon) and both Boston and Orlando on September 9. Until now, most of Alaska’s long haul flying had been done out of Seattle and none of it when from Portland. This tells me that their service is doing well enough out of Seattle and Portland’s economy is strong enough right now that they think this can work.
- Soon after Alaska’s announcement, Delta kicked off another round of New York/JFK flying with a daily nonstop to Portland beginning April 19. In the press release, Delta’s VP of Network Planning states that customers “will be able to take advantage of our strong international connections from our hub at New York’s JFK airport,” but I wouldn’t be so sure. That eastbound flight is a redeye, so it gets in at 714a. That means you’ll get to enjoy a good 12 hour connection if you want to go to Europe. Nice.
- In a move the shows that growing power of Emirates’ Dubai hub, the airline will begin a daily nonstop flight on September 1 between Dubai and Newcastle (England) on an A330 aircraft. This is Newcastle’s first significant long haul service. It really shows how Emirates has been able to develop enough connecting points through Dubai to allow service to smaller markets like Newcastle to still be possible.
