Alaska Airlines Reveals 13 New Routes, 12 Cuts In West Coast Shake-Up

Alaska Airlines is making some major changes to its West Coast network next year, announcing several new routes and cuts ahead of the 2026 summer season. San Diego and Portland will be among the largest beneficiaries with a handful of new routes each, along with two new destinations — Tulsa and Arcata-Eureka — and additional Hawaiian connections and frequencies.

However, Alaska will be dropping multiple routes from key airports, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, as it faces slower-than-expected aircraft deliveries next year.

Alaska Airlines New West Coast Routes

Looking at schedule data from aviation analytics company Cirium, Alaska will launch over a dozen new routes between March and May 2026. This includes five new connections out of San Diego International Airport (SAN) to Dallas/Fort Worth, Oakland, Raleigh-Durham, Santa Barbara and Tulsa, positioning San Diego as a rapidly expanding Southern California hub.

Its other growing West Coast hub will also begin four new seasonal routes, with flights from Portland International Airport (PDX) to Baltimore, Idaho Falls, Philadelphia and St Louis, and two services out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Arcata-Eureka and Tulsa, both of which are new airports in Alaska’s network.

Of these 13 new routes, only four have previously been flown by Alaska. Other routes will see additional frequencies arrive in time for the summer — this includes added daily flights on three routes from Portland to Newark, Lihue, and Santa Rosa–Sonoma, as well as increased service on Los Angeles–Maui and San Francisco–Kona and Lihue, all set to begin in 2026. Simple Flying has reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment and will update this story accordingly.

Almost A Dozen Californian Cuts

With Alaska anticipating delays in aircraft deliveries next year, it has been forced to trim other services across its West Coast network. A total of 12 routes will be dropped from its network in the first half of 2026, 11 of which involve Californian airports.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will say goodbye to five mainline Alaska routes — Austin, Boston, Burbank, Newark and Orlando — which will cut Alaska’s capacity at SFO by almost a quarter. Meanwhile, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego will see further regional cuts, including two international routes out of San Jose.

The carrier has also decided not to resume its seasonal Anchorage-Detroit service, which was due to return next summer. Despite delivering a profitable third quarter, Alaska Airlines underperformed expectations and ended the week with a major system-wide IT outage that forced the airline to suspend its earnings call.

Over 140 Destinations Next Summer

With its network alterations, Alaska will be offering its highest-ever number of destinations next summer with a total of 143 airports across its network.

There will be some exciting international additions, with Alaska due to make its first foray into the transatlantic market next year. This will see the carrier launch services from Seattle to London, Reykjavík and Rome in the spring, and who knows what else is on the horizon.