Alaska Airlines has announced that starting on September 12th, 2025, the recently acquired Hawaiian Airlines will fly between Seattle and Seoul, South Korea.
There will be 10 daily flights between the two cities. Five outbound flights from Seattle. Five inbound flights from Seoul. Flights from Seattle will be flown on Wednesdays through Sundays. The flight from Seoul will fly Thursday through Monday.
This long haul route will initially use Hawaiian’s Airbus A330 fleet. In the future, there are plans for Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners to enter the mix on the route. Currently, the Hawaiian Airlines fleet has 3 Dreamliners in service. This long haul route will be perfect for the aircraft type.
This new route pairing showcases Alaska’s commitment to turning Seattle into a gateway to Asia. Since the Alaska Airlines – Hawaiian Airlines merger, Alaska has also announced nonstop flights from Seattle to Tokyo.
Andrew Harrison, Chief Commercial Officer at Alaska Airlines commented “With our robust network, we can connect our guests through our global gateway in Seattle for convenient nonstop service to Seoul and Tokyo, with additional connections to other Asian destinations with our global partners. As we grow our global network from Seattle in the coming years, we’ll announce new international routes to dynamic destinations that we know our guests are going to love to visit.”
What Does This Mean for Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines Customers?
Alaska Airlines is Now Utilizing Hawaiian Airlines’ Long Range Fleet to Capitalize on a New Market
There were tons of questions of how Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines’ merger would play out. Would the Hawaiian Airlines fleet merge into Alaska’s fleet? Will Alaska Airlines begin offering transpacific flights? Well, we got our answer.
This a tremendous opportunity for Alaska Airlines to expand into new markets. From Seattle, their only real American competition to Asia is Delta Air Lines. With Alaska having such a dominating presence in the Pacific Northwest, they can likely serve these routes better than Delta considering the amount of connecting flights they offer into Seattle.
The missing cog to the puzzle for Alaska Airlines was that they didn’t have any long range aircraft capable of reaching Asia. With Hawaiian’s long haul fleet of Airbus A330s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners, this dream has now become reality.
This is Healthy for Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines is alive and well as a separate brand from Alaska Airlines.Now, thanks to Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines customers can now get a change of pace with non Hawaiian flights.
The airline can be considered the gold standard when it comes to American air carrier operations. They’ve been in business for so long without having a single hull loss. They have a 3 star cabin experience that emphasizes friendliness. All their flights to the U.S mainland are long haul flights. They are experienced in this space.
With the addition of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with their lie-flat seating arrangements, the flight between Seattle and Asia gives the airline the chance to show their muscles when it comes to long haul flying.
Now the big question is, can Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines sell enough Business and First Class seats to make a route like this worth it?
Sources
https://airlinegeeks.com/2025/03/25/alaska-plans-launch-of-newest-long-haul-route
