Alaska Optimizes Flying by Retiming A321s and Hubbing Portland


Alaska was busy working on integrating its Hawaiian fleet this past weekend. I should be mad that they dumped all these changes right before the holidays, but who can stay mad at Chester? After all, this wasn’t just noise. This was really focused around two substantial changes: the Hawaiian A321 fleet and the Alaska Portland hub.

Ramping Up A321 Utilization

Hawaiian has a fleet of 18 A321neos that it uses to fly almost entirely between the islands and the mainland. (There is a weekly flight to Raratonga, but that is on weekends only, and I’ve ignored that here.)

Here is the traditional way that Hawaiian has used the airplane, going back to last summer. You will see Day 1 showing origins from Hawaiʻi while Day 2 has all directions and Day 3 has just flights back to the islands.

Don’t worry about the details if you can’t read the individual cities. It doesn’t really matter. Just keep in mind that pink is a Honolulu flight, light purple is a Kahului flight, and dark purple is either a Kona or Līhuʻe flight.

Old Hawaiian A321neo Sample Summer Utilization – July 15-17, 2024

Data via Cirium

The pattern is pretty clear here. Airplanes would leave the islands in the middle of the day, get to the West Coast, and then sit all night. The next day would have a morning return to the islands before it did it all over again. The one exception to this was the redeye to Salt Lake City.

Now, keep in mind that last summer, Hawaiian scheduled only 17 lines of flying. I think they just wanted a spare in there.

But now, let’s fast forward to this year. Over the last two weeks, Alaska has made sweeping changes to the A321 schedule, changing some markets and retiming flights. It now looks like this:

New Hawaiian A321neo Sample Summer Utilization – July 14-16, 2025

Data via Cirium

You’ll see there are early morning departures from Honolulu to Portland and San Diego. We have late evening arrivals from the West Coast, none later than the LAX flight arriving at 11:29pm. And there are now more redeyes in the network.

In this schedule, there are 18 lines of flying, so they are fully utilizing the fleet. I actually wonder if there will be a 737 that can be pressed into service if needed instead of holding back a more valuable and scarce A321 as a spare.

Whatʻs the end result? Itʻs pretty dramatic:

Hawaiian A321neo Scheduled Daily Block Hours

Data via Cirium

Before last summer, the airline was still trying to get beyond the engine issues that grounded airplanes. Last summer peaked at 190 block hours per day. It spiked in the fall as high as 200, but that was only on certain days. Now next summer? Youʻre looking at more than 230 hours per day consistently.

Whatʻs even more interesting? You still have 11 airplanes that sit overnight on the mainland for a long time. Take that airplane that lands in San Jose at 6:40pm and then leaves the next morning at 7am. It is not crazy to think you could add in a turn to Seattle there. Get some free extra aircraft time and drive utilization down even further.

Portland Gets Banked

Over on the Alaska side of the house, the airline has decided to turn Portland into a real banked hub instead of the modified rolling-style hub. The latter is better for utilization of airport resources, but the former is generally far better from a commercial perspective. Alaska has relied on Seattle as its big hub, but now it wants Portland to step up and take more connections.

Hereʻs a look at a chart we did for this weekʻs Cranky Network Weekly.

As you can see, there are now five clear banks of flying and very little in between. To make this work, Alaska needs more gates and quite likely more employees. I assume that this is all now possible since the airport’s big renovation project is done. Alaska just had to decide it was worth the investment.

With five clear banks, Alaska has now changed frequencies around. It added an extra daily next summer from Portland to Austin, Bend, Sacramento, Salt Lake, and Vancouver. It’s adding 2x daily to Anchorage and Medford.

Some markets actually see decreases. Most notable is Seattle which loses two flights. Presumably with a better banked schedule, there will be fewer people needing to flow between those two cities. Burbank also loses 1x daily.

If you’re looking for a good example of when cutting is good news, take a look at Boise. It loses 1x daily from Portland, but two of the remaining daily flights are upgauged from Embraer 175 to 737, so seats are up. And in Spokane, frequency stays flat, but again two of the flights are upgauged. This is about getting more people to flow through the hub at the right time.


Both of these moves underscore the massive change going on under the hood as these two airlines integrate and Alaska rethinks the best way to use its resources. It’s an exciting time to be watching this airline.

Get Cranky in Your Inbox!

The airline industry moves fast. Sign up and get every Cranky post in your inbox for free.

Brett Avatar

33 responses to “Alaska Optimizes Flying by Retiming A321s and Hubbing Portland”

  1. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Good moves by AS, and w/r/t to PDX, a long time coming.

  2. John G Avatar
    John G

    I’m still not sure how efficient it is to have a large hub and a medium one 150 miles apart.

    1. Craig P Avatar
      Craig P

      Well, considering SEATAC is terribly constrained, and your strength / loyalty is in the NW… what else do you do?

      1. SEAN Avatar
        SEAN

        The PDX project is still ongoing. Check out a recent YouTube video from “The B1M” for details.

    2. kitsune4px Avatar
      kitsune4px

      I think it’s also worth recognizing that both PDX and SEA don’t really sit in the middle of their respective catchment basins for O&D. Lots of people drive up the Willamette Valley from the South to get to PDX and plenty of SEA passengers are coming from the North and NW of Seattle to SEA, so in that sense the airports are “further apart” than it might first appear for a lot of folks. For passengers connecting through the respective airports it’s going to be very similar flight times I would suspect.

    3. Lucon Avatar
      Lucon

      BOS-NYC airports are only tens of miles further apart.

      I believe the efficiency is shorter connecting flights to PDX for markets like Eugene, Medford, and Bend. This is a win for passengers and could pull connecting traffic from Boise and other airports when the timing or costs are a better fit.

      PDX is a large enough airport to support a lot of transcontinental flying. This theoretically improves the load factor of those flights. Even when they are simply rerouting some travelers who go through Seattle today that decongests SEATAC, allowing for future growth elsewhere.

  3. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    Loyalty to AS in PDX, and OR overall, runs deep. Im glad to see them leverage that while adding connection opportunities as gravy. Summer is peak tourism season and PDX lacks a significant ULCC presence. That should help with yield dilution from connections.

    Lets see what the winter 25/26 skd looks like to see if this is sustainable year round.

    1. Kevin Avatar
      Kevin

      Great point. Few companies enjoy such an ingrained brand recognition/loyalty. DL can throw all the resources they want at SEA- until they recognize that for what it is, they won’t truly understand what they’re up against.

  4. Eric C Avatar
    Eric C

    So how many narrowbody hours does AS/HA have to the islands, and how many dedicated planes would it take with this kind of utilization?

    1. CF Avatar

      Eric C – Next Jul, there are currently about 480 daily block hours scheduled on narrowbodies on both HA and AS narrowbodies. If you figure you can get 11 hours a day on average, that would be just short of 44 aircraft. But it won’t be a dedicated fleet on the Alaska side, I’m sure aircraft will flow.

  5. VictorKilo Avatar
    VictorKilo

    Is the incremental red eye flying to Hawaii generally replacing AS narrow body flying or HA wide body flying? Just trying to connect the dots from
    previous posts.

    1. CF Avatar

      VictorKilo – There are 5 redeyes on the A321 now. One is Salt Lake which is the same as it was before the merger, so we can forget about that.

      The rest are San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles. All but LA move from an Alaska 737 so it’s not a big deal. LAX does change from a widebody, so that is the only one that’s notable. Of course, the other 3 daily flights are on widebodies.

  6. Jimmy Avatar
    Jimmy

    Welcome back PDX hub!
    Granted it’s little old Medford, OR but MFR goes from 6 daily AS flights last summer (4x SEA, 1x PDX, 1x LAX) to 10 daily next summer (4x SEA, 4x PDX, 2x LAX).
    Now PDX just needs a Priority Pass lounge (RIP access to Capers restaurant).

    1. MrSpicoli Avatar
      MrSpicoli

      We welcome the additional service to our MFR, and the additional focus on PDX has already paid dividends for me. Based on yields I’ve seen, they won’t have trouble filling planes. Interesting, we were always told by AS that the lack of service from MFR over the past several years was due to the pilot shortage. Obviously that is less of an issue now and better fleet utilization helps. Now just waiting for AA to initiate service to DFW! That will allow easy access to both Pacific and Atlantic flying within the OW network.

    2. maccoinnich Avatar
      maccoinnich

      An Escape Lounge will be opening at PDX relatively soon, and it will probably accept Priority Pass, but it’s at the end of Concourse D and therefore of limited use to most Alaska fliers.

  7. LaxLgbSnaFlier Avatar
    LaxLgbSnaFlier

    Thanks CF for the multiple posts after all the details that emerged from the bullish Alaska Investor Day.

    As to “timeframe to return to an all Boeing Fleet?”, I did listen to your Air Show interview with Alaska’s CEO per your request! The three of you have an excellent dynamic, and I have now found another information source!

    I believe Alaska’s CEO comments that NextGen/NEO Engines are requiring much higher MRO costs than OldGen/CEO Engines might be another interesting and worthwhile vein for you to drill into using your tools (Cirium, etc). My favorite quote was along the lines of “..and this was not in the brochure..’

    Happy Holidays to both you and this fantastic Community.

  8. Bill from DC (aka Cranky Gazelle?) Avatar
    Bill from DC (aka Cranky Gazelle?)

    Fully half of the 321s remain to be further optimized so there is still room for another big boost but they are approaching it deliberately and smartly, using the first half as test cases to troubleshoot, identify unintended consequences, issues, problems, etc. Overall it seems like a very logical next step in the combined operation after reorienting the Hawaiian airbuses.

    1. HAL Watcher Avatar
      HAL Watcher

      Remember, much of the reason that HA overnighted planes on the west coast was for maintenance. Though AS is increasing the utilization, the maintenance still has to take place, which is why there are several overnighters in the mx bases. HA was staffed in the flight deck and cabin for their old schedule. It takes time to hire and train pilots and flight attendants to operate this increased schedule. This is also likely why you see things ramping up. To your point though, there does seem to be some additional time available. What will be interesting is how the flex the schedule into the fall of 2025. The earlier 321’s have been going through their first heavy checks in the Philippines. The rest of the fleet will cycle through as well, taking them out of service for several weeks. While we see 18 lines of flying, this won’t be able to continue as certain frames will have to go to their heavy checks.

      Really nice analysis Cranky.

  9. GSS Avatar
    GSS

    “Dual hubs” don’t typically work because 1 will cannibalize the other, but in the case of SEA/PDX we have to remember that SEA is completely full. Growth at PDX does not come at the expense of SEA. Furthermore, a disproportionate amount of traffic originates in state of Alaska flowing south. In summer, AS flies as many as 24x daily between SEA and ANC. Much of that traffic is connecting. Does AS really need to dedicate 12 Seattle “slots” to ANC connections, when those same pax can be served via PDX? If the PDX hub is successful this summer, I wouldn’t be surprised to see AS add summertime service to JNU, FAI, KTN or other major connecting spokes.

    A good corollary could be United’s treatment of EWR and IAD. We know EWR is full, and it’s hard to make a case that EWR is a worse performer on net because of the capacity put into IAD.

    If Alaska had the option to add another 50 daily flights to Seattle I’m sure they would prefer to, but that isn’t an option with SEA’s real estate and airspace constraints.

    1. Seanny Avatar
      Seanny

      I think you’re right. Although one has to wonder if they wonn’t try upguaging the ANC flights as well.

      1. Ian L Avatar
        Ian L

        They’re doing just that next summer. 4x 737 are being replaced with 2x A330.

        I wonder if AS can borrow the Prime Air A330-300s a bit for their own cargo ops. Probably not, but if they need extra lift and the planes would otherwise be sitting around…

  10. Tim Dunn Avatar
    Tim Dunn

    Every airline wants to utilize its assets as much as they can but the operation has to be able to support it.

    DOT data shows that AS’ YTD (through Sept) on-time is #5 behind DL, UA and WN, a noticeable rearrangement from when HA and AS were at the top of the industry. HA is still there as a separate entity for now.

    In SEA, DL is 10 points in on-time ahead of AS while in SFO, UA has a 12 point lead.

    AS is #8 out of 10 airlines in YTD baggage performance.

    SEA is getting more and more crowded, airlines keep adding widebody flights which take up more air and ground space.

    B6 used to have a lot of luster until their operation became much less reliable than the larger competitors.

    1. nomenclature Avatar
      nomenclature

      B6’s operations were near clean. Delays going back to the 2000s. Don’t you remember the Valentine’s Day snow storm in the Northeast that paralyzed B6 while everyone else sailed through it?

      1. Tim Dunn Avatar
        Tim Dunn

        I take it you mean “never clean” and, if so, that is true.

        Every airline has had operational meltdowns but B6′ competitors didn’t have much better operations.
        At some point, customers do figure out that loyalty, which B6 had, is meaningless if someone else runs their operation better.

        AS cannot afford to allow its operation to be measurably worse than that of its primary west coast competitors, esp. in major international markets that AS wants to penetrate.

        It will be exceedingly difficult for AS to get more utilization out of aircraft including with adding widebodies to SEA without seeing costs increase just due to congestion – on top of the labor cost increases that are going to happen.

  11. RobPDX Avatar
    RobPDX

    As a PDX based frequent flier, I’m thrilled that we will see more nonstops from PDX to more places too. I’ve spent too many times arriving on a late flight to SEA and going to the dreaded D20 handstand at SEA because all the gates are taken, which means you’re then bussed to the terminal and invariably causes me to miss the last SEA/PDX flight which means I have to get a hotel room for the night or (usually) rent a car and drive, getting home about 3am.

  12. AvGeek101 Avatar
    AvGeek101

    @Brett do you think Alaska will keep the deep codeshare agreement with Jetblue? Especially out of BOS/JFK? I know that Jetblue provides a lot of connecting traffic on those Hawaiian flights, as well as their LAX/LAS flights to Hawaii. What are your thoughts there? I believe the two airlines currently earn miles on each other, too.

    1. CF Avatar

      AvGeek101 – I would be surprised, actually. The point of the codeshare from Hawaiian’s perspective was to create additional connectivity on the mainland. But Alaska can handle all of that now without going outside. Of course, that doesn’t mean that’ll be what happens, but I just don’t see much reason to keep it.

  13. AS Geezer Avatar
    AS Geezer

    I wonder if PAE will benefit at all from this merger/reallocation of equipment? Living North, I much prefer it, especially with how quaint the terminal is. I love flying out of there!

  14. Anthony Avatar
    Anthony

    @CF– Unrelated, but what program did you use to create those schedule flows? I need to create almost that exact Gantt chart template for work and can’t find a program to do it.

    1. CF Avatar

      Anthony – I just used Excel. I’m sure there are better tools to do it more quickly.

  15. Leneld Hammond Avatar
    Leneld Hammond

    AS just announced PDX-FAI summer seasonal 2025…Just how large are they planning to grow their PDX connecting hub??

  16. Tom LECHNER Avatar
    Tom LECHNER

    Alaska still has LOTS to do to make connectivity work through SEA (or PDX) to Hawaii. Connecting times from DTW through SEA to LAX, SAN, PDX are great. But try getting from DTW to HNL or OGG. I checked Jan. 12, for example. Travel time is 17:14 or more. Delta, connecting in SLC for instance, is :45 connect time for 12:05 total travel time. Until Alaska fixes connect time through SEA (or PDX), they are leaving lots of us Alaska fans having to fly other airlines to Hawaii.

    1. CF Avatar

      Tom – They don’t have much work to do at all. The summer schedule is when they really align flying, and if you look, you’ll see two options in both directions on those (except to Kahului which is 1, but the return has 2).
      This is actually a perfect example of what this combination enables.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Cranky Flier