Alaska Airlines in April will expand service to Boston and Denver, which the company hopes will fill seats on the company's expanded fleet of long-range, fuel-efficient aircraft.
Beginning April 28, the Seattle-based airline will fly once a day from Fairbanks to Anchorage and continue on to Seattle and Denver. The airline will have two more flights daily between Seattle and Denver.
Jack Walsh, an Alaska Airlines spokesman in Seattle, said Denver is a prime destination for people from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
"It's the No. 4 market for travel from Seattle," Walsh said. "There is a tremendous amount of traffic every day between Seattle and Denver and vice versa. It made good sense for us."
Horizon Air, the company's commuter airline, will fly two nonstops daily from Denver to Portland, Ore., and a third to Portland with a stop in Boise, Idaho.
The flights to Denver will be served by 138-seat Boeing 737s; Horizon's flights will be aboard its new 70-passenger Bombardier CRJ 700 jets.
Also on April 28, Alaska Airlines will offer service from Seattle to Boston, using new long-range 120-seat Boeing 737-700s. Walsh said the airplanes are fuel efficient and have enabled the airline's recent entry into the Chicago and Cancun, Mexico, markets.
The airline also is using the Boeing 737-700s to serve Washington, D.C., from Seattle, at Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport.
