Alaska Airlines launched its first widebody services from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Washington, with an inaugural flight to Tokyo-Narita (NRT), Japan, on May 12, 2025.
This new nonstop service to Japan is the first step in Alaska Airlines’ plan to create a long-haul hub at its Seattle-Tacoma base. The US airline plans to launch at least 12 international routes out of the Northwest Pacific by 2030.
The launch of the Tokyo-Narita service will be followed on September 12, 2025, by the launch of flights to Seoul-Incheon (ICN), Alaska Airlines’ second Asian destination out of Seattle.
The set up of Alaska Airlines’ trans-Pacific hub at Seattle-Tacoma has been made possible by the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, since the Alaskan carrier doesn’t have widebody aircraft of its own.
Services to Asia will be operated by Hawaiian Airlines and will at first use Airbus A330 aircraft, although it is expected that these will be replaced by Boeing 787-9s in the near future.
For now, the onboard experience will be indistinguishable from that offered by Hawaiian Airlines on its long-haul flights out of Honolulu (HNL), with three classes of service: Business Class, Extra Comfort and Main Cabin. However, Alaska Airlines is already working on its own branded cabin product for the new long-haul services from Seattle.
The Alaskan carrier has also highlighted the hub-and-spoke nature of this operation, with passengers from more than 80 US cities connecting in Seattle for the Tokyo service. Transit passengers represent around half of the tickets sold in the US for Alaska Airlines’ new Japanese route.
