Sad to learn the Alaska flight to DC is ending, the dulles route is one of the few routes I prioritize Alaska over united as SFO is my home base.
Alaska Airlines is overhauling its California network:
- Ending routes from SFO and LAX to Washington Dulles (IAD) and SFO to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) on Aug. 19, citing decreased demand.
- Doubling down on San Diego: New daily nonstops to Phoenix (Aug. 20), Chicago O’Hare, and Denver (Oct. 4), and more frequent flights to San Jose, Sacramento, and Las Vegas (Oct. 26).
- Will operate 90+ daily departures from San Diego, becoming the dominant airline there.
Avelo Airlines is reducing operations in Santa Rosa, dropping routes (Boise, Salt Lake City) and ending its crew base, reallocating planes for government deportation charters.
Avelo here is making a business decision and probably prudent for them but surprised that deportation is such a large business (not making a political statement here, common carriers often don't have choice)
JetBlue starts summer service from LAX to Newark (Apr. 30) and Burbank to JFK, while Frontier adds LAX–JFK and Las Vegas–IAD (May 1).
International Service Changes:
- United launches or resumes routes to Barcelona, Athens, Dubrovnik, Rome, and a new seasonal route to Mongolia (May 1).
- Condor begins daily flights from SFO and LAX to Frankfurt (Apr. 28).
I have seen a lot of growth with Condor here. I am not sure I totally understand the Lufthansa strategy here but there is a business product on Condor that is something a little nicer than premium economy so road warriors on a budget will appreciate this. I took them out of Vegas, flying from SFO to Vegas to catch a flight on them.
As i go to Thailand often for work (usually Chiang Mai for the digital nomads) I am excited about the safety upgrade from FAA for Thai because that means more flights.
Lots of cool changes but bummer on Alaska to Dulles.
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