The 
Alaska Airlines Group
has revealed several significant changes this week. The first destinations to receive flights from Seattle-Tacoma with the widebodies acquired in the merger with Hawaiian Airlines will be Tokyo Narita in Japan and Seoul Incheon in South Korea.
Calling all the widebodies
In an investor call that outlined the larger Accelerate Alaska plan, the carrier revealed significant changes to its long-haul network. The company will begin offering new nonstop flights on A330 aircraft to key Asian leisure and business markets in 2025 as it looks to increase utilization of the group’s high-capacity widebody jets.
The move will launch Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
(SEA) as a new global gateway for the group as it expands into transpacific flights with the Hawaiian Airlines A330 widebody aircraft to Tokyo Narita Airport
in Japan (NRT), and Seoul’s Incheon International Airport
(ICN) in South Korea. Ben Minicucci, Chief Executive Officer at Alaska Air Group, highlighted the new links as dynamic travel options:
“We believe our guests will be as excited as we are about these new nonstop flights to Tokyo and Seoul – two of the world’s most dynamic cities.
“From our global gateway in Seattle, we can conveniently connect travelers from across our network as they head to Asia and beyond. Hawaiian’s spacious widebody aircraft, along with its excellent onboard service and amenities, will make for a terrific trip from one side of the Pacific Rim to the other.”
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The flights will enable connections to other Asian destinations through oneworld Alliance partner Japan Airlines
(JAL), which already serves Seattle-Tacoma from Japan. The long-haul routes will be further complemented with a reorganization of the group’s domestic network.
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All three of the major US airlines and a range of international carriers connect the United States to both of Tokyo’s international airports.
When do the new flights to Tokyo and Seoul start?
The first new nonstop destination on sale is the route between Seattle-Tacoma and Tokyo Narita (NRT). The route begins on May 12th, 2025, and will be operated by Hawaiian’s Airbus A330-200
aircraft. In a statement, the airline confirmed the change was a move to improve performance, expand growth opportunities, and increase network connectivity:
“Our new widebody service between Seattle and Tokyo Narita enables us to right-size our capacity between Hawaiʻi and Japan, a market that has experienced a weaker leisure travel demand in the wake of the pandemic.”
Hawaiian already serves Narita from Honolulu, so repositioning the aircraft on the Honolulu-Tokyo Narita route to Seattle will supplement the existing service from Hawai’i and allow for more connections across Alaska’s wider network. As a result, the total number of frequencies to Tokyo will increase from 12 to 14 flights a week.
Hawaiian will also continue to offer nonstop service between Honolulu and both Osaka and Fukuoka for a total of 24 weekly roundtrips between Hawaiʻi and Japan.
Few details about the second route have been released. The carrier only confirmed that nonstop service between Seattle and Seoul Incheon will begin in “October 2025“. Additional details are scheduled to be released when flights go on sale in the new year.
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Alaska Airlines confirmed today that it plans to serve “at least 12” nonstop global destinations with long-haul widebody aircraft from Seattle-Tacoma by 2030. For the Washinton State airport, this has been a bumper year. The launch of Alaska Airlines flights to Liberia (LIR) Costa Rica this month will bring the airport to 55 international nonstop services to 35 destinations on 28 airlines. Up from 42 nonstop flights to 26 destinations on just 22 airlines before the pandemic.
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The airport is expanding upward and adding over a dozen new routes, including links to Copenhagen, Manila, Toronto, and Munich.
Other new international routes announced for 2025 include SAS to Copenhagen, Edelweiss to Zurich, and WestJet to Kelowna.
