Alaska Airlines will begin two new intra-California routes early next year. (Image: Alaska Air)
Both Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines this week announced they will add new routes from California airports. This is likely just the beginning of a battle for the hearts and wallets of California’s frequent flyers as Alaska absorbs Virgin America and takes on Southwest for dominance in the Golden State. For the short term, travelers should benefit with more options and lower fares.
Alaska set a March 17, 2017 start for new Sacramento-San Diego and San Jose-Burbank service. It will offer three roundtrips a day in both markets, using its new 76-seat E175 jets operated by SkyWest Airlines with first class, premium economy and economy seating. (More on the E175 here.)
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines will increase its growing presence at Mineta San Jose International Airport by adding nonstops to Baltimore/Washington International and Salt Lake City International, both starting on November 6 of this year.
Southwest will operate one daily roundtrip between SJC-BWI and two a day between SJC and Salt Lake City.
Officials at the airport noted that there is currently no non-stop service between San Jose and the metro Washington D.C. area, which was the second most requested domestic destination in a Silicon Valley corporate survey.
We checked times and prices on the new San Jose-Baltimore nonstop. Here’s what we found for an early November roundtrip:
The new flights will give Southwest 76 weekday departures from SJC to 15 destinations. Plus it will give San Jose another much-needed nonstop connection to the East Coast.
San Jose has made huge gains this year with flights to several long-haul destinations. British Airways just launched new 787 Dreamliner flights to London. On June 16, Air China inaugurates nonstops to Shanghai, followed by Lufthansa nonstops to Frankfurt later this summer.
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Thin as in not enough of a market to profit using a mainline narrowbody. Sacramento and San Diego are both considered secondary cities, plus San Jose and Burbank are close enough to major hubs – these two airports are merely additional options for most.
Yes you get to “freeze time” flying East to West but you lose it when you make the return flight. Zero sum game I’m afraid….
As for connecting pax, WN has never angled for them nor for interlines. Their business model is predominantly O&D.
Finally, I don’t know if you’ve flown AS recently, but they’re as solid and safe as anyone.
Too thin?
It is true that time zone changes allow Southwest to run a 737 from East to West.
But it doesn’t seem like that model gives them that many passengers flying up and down the coast.
… except they’re not really competing directly, in the scope of the routes in this article.
The new AS intra-California routes are too thin to throw a mainline 737 at, whereas WN is flying all the way across the continent to major cities. Hard to make that type of comparison.
Not sure what the logic is to compete with E 175’s against Southwest on routes where SWA uses a 737…
I suspect the core of Alaska’s strategy is about using the lower pilot certification standards (and pay) associated with certain plane sizes to undercut Southwest’s relatively low compensation itself.
This doesn’t come without risk though.
Alaska should concentrate use of the E 175’s to routes where the intimate and cozy nature of the aircraft will seem like a feature, not a bug. And Alaska has lot of them to choose from because the sparsely populated West has plenty of out of the way places that see a healthy number of leisure travelers and locals.
Moreover, Alaska’s reputation for safety has taken a long time to repair since their last major incident in 2000. All it takes is one accident to put any use of less-certified pilots front and center…