Alaska Airlines Adds Flights from San Jose to Orange County and San Diego

Alaska Airlines plans to grow at Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport this summer by adding thrice daily service between the airport and San Diego and Orange County with e-175 regional jets. The thrice daily service will compete directly with Southwest service to both locations, but as the two of the airports top ten destinations by traffic, Alaska has a very good chance of gaining a decent market share in the California intrastate market, a market it has been slowly growing in over the last several years from San Diego specifically.

Alaska Airlines new flights will be timed to connect San Jose flyers to and from popular travel destinations in Mexico which depart from both Orange County and San Diego, along with more options to and from Hawaii. In addition, the new routes will provide valuable offline feed for partner airlines British Airways and Hunan airways, which both serve San Jose international airport.

Summary of New Service starting June 5, 2016:

 

Alaska will fly the routes with 76-seat E175 jets, operated by SkyWest Airlines, which features 12 seats in first class, 12 seats in preferred class and 52 seats in the main cabin. The E175 boasts cabin dimensions on par with a 737. Onboard amenities include Wi-Fi Internet access, free and premium entertainment direct to customer devices, and in first class 110 volt power in every seat. Food and beverage will include hot meals for purchase, sourced from iconic Pacific Northwest brands, in addition to microbrews and wine.

California residents should be on the lookout for some great fares and some low cost awards between Southern California and the bay area, especailly when this routes first launches and Alaska takes on Southwest in a pricing battle for passengers between Northern and Southern California.