Alaska Restores Routes Airline To Have Five Flights Between Seattle, Spokane

The airline that broke a lot of Spokane travelers’ hearts by dropping its service here in 1993 has quietly restored its SpokaneSeattle routes.

Alaska Airlines resumed two Spokane-Seattle flights daily on June 4, and announced this week they will add three more Spokane-Seattle flights in September.

“Times change,” Alaska spokesman Lou Cancelmi said Tuesday.

“One thing about airlines is that they have mobile assets,” Cancelmi added. “As markets change, decisions are made to reflect those changes. And the Spokane market has been very robust.”

Alaska’s sister airline, Horizon Air, continues its 17 daily flights between Seattle and Spokane.

Seattle-based Alaska was for years a mainstay of the Spokane air travel market. But in June of 1993, after a series of cuts in its Spokane service, Alaska and its full-sized jets left the market altogether. Horizon’s smaller jets and commuter aircraft were all that was left to fill the void.

The timing of the departure seemed odd, as it occurred just as air passenger traffic in and out of Spokane International Airport was beginning to explode. But much of that growth was directed toward Morris Air, a low-fare airline that was forcing its competitors in the market to drastically cut their fares if they wanted to remain competitive.

Indeed, some Alaska officials hinted that Morris’s presence here, and the warmth with which city and airport officials welcomed the fledgling airline, was one reason Alaska was leaving the market.

Whatever role Morris played, Alaska’s reasons were also rooted in the airline’s financial struggles. Like most of the airline industry, Alaska was suffering heavy losses, which forced it to retrench and consolidate in order to survive.

The departure from markets like Spokane was the price of that survival. The company said it didn’t make sense to serve such a short route with full-sized jets when the cost of operating the smaller Horizon plans was so much less.

Since 1993, the Spokane air travel market has been among the hottest it the country. The growth of that market - fed first by Morris and then by low fare giant Southwest Airlines - has been beyond anybody’s expectations.

Likewise, Alaska has restored its profitability, and wants to be able to capitalize on the opportunities here.

Alaska’s full-sized jets first returned to the Spokane market last summer when the airline initiated two daily Spokane-Los Angeles flights, and one flight a day to Oakland.

Using the Horizon ticket counter at the airport and Horizon ground crew and facilities, Alaska added a 6 a.m. flight and an 11:30 a.m. flight to Seattle in June. The return flights are at 10 a.m. and 10:45 p.m.

That puts Alaska in direct competition with Southwest, which was previously the only airline offering full-size jet service between Spokane and Seattle.

In September, Alaska will add 8:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. flights from Spokane to Seattle, and 7 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. flights from Seattle to Spokane.

Mark B. Jucht, finance manager for the Spokane Airport System, says the return of Alaska, and the initiation of service in Spokane by America West Express earlier this week, represents more good news for Spokane and the Spokane traveling public.

“Alaska is putting itself in a good position,” Jucht says. “They still keep the hourly Horizon service to Seattle, which is very nice for the business traveler, and then supplement that with Alaska’s larger jets, which the public really likes.

“That allows them to lift a lot more people in this market.”

, DataTimes