Alaska Airlines adds four flights to NYC from West Coast

Seattle-headquartered Alaska Airlines is adding new flights from four West Coast cities to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), providing travelers with more options and additional access to the New York City metropolitan area.

Alaska (NYSE:ALK) announced July 21 that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had approved its request to operate three new daily flights from Portland, San Jose and San Diego and an additional daily flight from Seattle.

New service from EWR to Portland International Airport in Oregon (PDX) and San Diego’s Lindberg Field California (SAN) will start in November 2016, while new service to San Jose, California’s Mineta San José International Airport (SJC) will begin in March 2017. A third daily departure from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to EWR will be added in May of next year.

“With our new expanded service to Newark, we continue to grow our West Coast footprint by offering our valued customers more nonstop flights to popular business and leisure destinations,” John Kirby, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of capacity planning, said in a statement announcing the new flights.

Alaska Airlines 737 in new livery departs SEA
Alaska 737 in new livery
Alaska’s new Portland-Newark service continues the airline’s expansion of its Portland hub which includes other recently added destinations such as Minneapolis-St. Paul International in Minnesota (MSP); Kansas City International Airport (MCI) in Missouri; Orlando International Airport (MCO), Florida; Omaha, Nebraska’s Eppley Airfield (OMA); and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL). The newly added Newark service will be the only daytime nonstop from PDX to the Garden State.

The new San Diego-Newark service is the third East Coast destination from the airline’s southern California focus city, which will give San Diego travelers access to New York City, one of the largest business markets in the world.

The new San Jose-Newark service marks the first nonstop flight between the two cities and also provides Silicon Valley customers a convenient new option for travel to the New York City area.

First to launch will be the PDX-EWR flights. Starting Nov. 10, daily flights will leave Portland at 6:55 a.m., arriving at EWR at 2:55 p.m. Return flights will leave at 3:55 p.m., arriving in Oregon at 7:05 p.m.

San Diego service will start Nov. 21, with daily flights departing SAN at 9:55 a.m., arriving in New Jersey at 5:55 p.m. Return flights will leave Jersey at 7 p.m., arriving at Lindberg Field at 10 p.m.

Service from SJC to EWR will start Mar. 12, 2017, with daily flights departing at 6:30 a.m. and arriving at 2:55 p.m. Return flights leave EWR at 4:05 p.m., arriving in San Jose at 7:40 p.m.

The third daily flight from SEA will begin May 14. The airline’s third daily flight from SEA will depart at 11:50 p.m. and arrive in Newark at 8:06 a.m. Return flights will leave EWR at 9:30 a.m. and arrive in the Emerald City at 12:25 p.m.

All flights will land at Newark’s Terminal A.

Alaska will operate Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 aircraft on the transcontinental routes. According to SeatGuru.com, Alaska operates five different configurations of 737. All except the combi version used primarily in Alaska have both First Class and Economy seating. First Class seats are generally 21 inches wide with 36 inches of pitch while Economy seats are generally 17 inches wide with 31 to 32 inches of pitch.

Tickets for the new routes will go on sale July 25.

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Photo by Carl Dombek
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