Alaska Airlines Adds Cleveland To Growing Route Network

Cleveland will join the Alaska Airlines route map from summer 2022. The airline will add the Ohio city to its route network while growing frequencies to two other major cities in the state: Columbus and Cincinnati. The move comes as Alaska continues to further its goal of bringing more nonstop access to the West Coast and more feed for its oneworld partners.

Alaska Airlines is adding a new link from the Pacific Northwest to Ohio. Photo: Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines adds Cleveland

Starting on June 16th, 2022, Alaska Airlines will launch daily nonstop flights from its largest hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE). The route will run daily with the following schedule (all times are local):

• Flights will depart Seattle at 09:50 and arrive in Cleveland at 17:15
• Flights will depart Cleveland at 18:25 and arrive in Seattle at 20:30

Alaska Airlines will use 178-seat Boeing 737-900ER aircraft for flights between Seattle and Cleveland. This plane includes 16 recliner-style first class seats, 24 extra-legroom economy seats, and 138 standard economy seats.

Alaska has announced a new service to Cleveland while also growing its Ohio network. Photo: Alaska Airlines

Brett Catlin, vice president of network and alliances at Alaska Airlines, stated the following on the new route:

“Ohio is an economic powerhouse with a vibrant cultural and corporate scene that’s underserved and primed for growth as we emerge from the pandemic. Adding Cleveland to our network furthers our investment in the Buckeye State while adding an important nonstop link between Northeast Ohio and the Puget Sound.”

Hear more from Brett Catlin: You can hear more from him and other industry leaders at Simple Flying’s online Future Flying Forum event in November. Register for free now!

More flights to the state

Alaska Airlines launched service to Columbus, Ohio, from Seattle in March 2019. In May of this year, the airline began serving Cincinnati from Seattle, as well. Cleveland has become its third destination in Ohio.

Next summer, Alaska will be doubling service on existing routes. Flights from Seattle to both Cincinnati and Columbus will move from one daily flight to two daily flights. Those flights will see second daily nonstop flights starting on June 16th, the same day as service to Cleveland will launch.

Alaska Airlines will also up Cincinnati and Columbus to double daily roundtrip service. Photo: Getty Images

Connecting more cities to the West Coast

Alaska Airlines is heavily concentrated around the West Coast. Its largest hubs include Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. It has recently expanded slightly east from major cities like Boise, but it has no bases on the East Coast or the Midwestern US.

After joining the oneworld alliance and as part of the partnership with American Airlines, Alaska Airlines continues to build out its route network with several new routes and an increase in frequencies on key routes. Much of this has to do with supporting those partnerships and accessing new customers.

Thanks to new partnerships, Alaska Airlines can grow its route network breadth and schedule depth. Photo: Alaska Airlines

While international travel is still down, especially to Asia, the partnership with American Airlines is continuing to unfold and remain beneficial for airlines. Adding the new route to Cleveland has a dual benefit. For American Airlines, Alaska’s nonstop means a new way to market access to the West Coast that American could not previously sell to its customers nonstop. For Alaska, it means access to American’s base of customers while also creating new, organic connecting opportunities for residents from Cleveland to get to places like Hawaii, secondary destinations in the Pacific Northwest, and Asia with just one stop.

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