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Alaska Airways has debuted its first-ever branded widebody aircraft, a Boeing Dreamliner that has already been rotated into the service’s long-haul schedule.
The 787-9 entered service — together with flights from Seattle to Tokyo — as Alaska introduced its biggest-ever plane deal, ordering 110 planes from Boeing two years after a mid-cabin door plug lacking key bolts blew out from one of many firm’s 737 Max-9 planes at 14,800 ft.
Alaska grounded its total 737 Max-9 fleet because of this.
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board investigated the January 5, 2024, incident and located critical failures in Boeing’s manufacturing oversight and quality-control processes, with the plug not correctly secured throughout manufacturing.
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Alaska’s order of 105 737 Max-10s and 5 787-10 Dreamliners is the biggest fleet order within the airline’s historical past and a vote of confidence in Boeing following the door plug disaster.
“You guys have labored arduous prior to now two years,” Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci instructed Boeing staff on the unveiling of the brand new green-liveried Dreamliner in Seattle.
“In relation to high quality and security, efficiency and effectivity, we’re lock and step with you. And that Alaska will maintain the bar excessive on each aircraft that will get delivered to Alaska.
“We’re dedicated to your success, and I do know that you’re dedicated to our success.”
Minicucci mentioned his imaginative and prescient is to rework Alaska into America’s fourth-largest international airline and compete towards the “huge three” (United, Delta and American).
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To that finish, the service has opened ticket gross sales for its first-ever route that runs direct from Seattle to London, with round-trip fares from $699.
The brand new day by day, year-round service launches on Could 21, with a Seattle-London flight time of 9 hours and 20 minutes, and the return leg scheduled to take 9 hours and 50 minutes.
Alaska can also be launching a brand new day by day seasonal service from Seattle to Rome on April 28, 2026 — with fares from $599 already on sale — and day by day seasonal flights to Reykjavik, Iceland, from Could 28, 2026, with fares from $699.
The London and Rome providers will likely be operated by widebody 787 Dreamliner plane, whereas the seven-and-a-half-hour Seattle-Reykjavik service will use 737-8 Max plane, which Alaska Airways mentioned are “designed for one of these long-range flying.”
Presently, the cabin on the newly unveiled Dreamliner is borrowed from Hawaiian Airways, which it merged with in 2024.
That’s as a result of whereas the Dreamliner is brand-new, it was initially a Hawaiian order.
Inside, there’s a enterprise class with privateness doorways and absolutely lie-flat seats in a direct-aisle-access 1-2-1 configuration. Different options embrace 18-inch screens, noise-reducing headsets and wi-fi charging.
Alaska now has 5 Dreamliners in operation throughout its community, however 4 have been redeployed from Hawaiian’s fleet.
