Alaska Airlines To Commence 7 New Routes From Anchorage & Portland In 2026

Alaska Airlines has announced its domestic summer expansion for 2026. It’s launching a total of seven new routes from its hubs in Anchorage, Alaska, and Portland, Oregon. Most of these routes will commence in June of 2026, although one will start in March. In addition, most of the routes will be operated only a few times a year and will end at the end of the summer season.

Anchorage and Portland are both secondary hubs for Alaska Airlines, which operates most of its flights out of Seattle. However, the carrier is running out of room in Seattle, and as such is giving greater focus to Portland as well as Anchorage. Unlike Seattle, which has heavy competition from Delta Air Lines, market share is more fragmented in Portland, with Alaska holding a plurality of the market, while Alaska holds a majority of the market in Anchorage.

Alaska Airlines’ New Domestic Expansion

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Alaska Airlines will be launching seven new domestic routes during the summer of 2026. Four of these will originate from Portland International Airport, with Alaska commencing service to Bellingham, Everett, Jackson Hole, and Pasco. Bellingham, Everett, and Pasco are all within the state of Washington, while Jackson Hole is located in Wyoming. As such, all of these are short routes largely within the Pacific Northwest region.

The remaining three routes will be launched out of Anchorage International Airport. Specifically, Alaska will commence service to Boise, Boston-Logan, and Spokane. The route to Boston will take over seven hours traveling eastbound and roughly eight hours on the return, while the routes to Boise and Spokane are shorter flights to the Pacific Northwest. Boise, a focus city for Alaska Airlines, is located in Idaho, while Spokane is located in Washington.

The routes from Portland to Bellingham, Everett, and Pasco will operate year-round. Bellingham and Everett will see daily frequencies, while Pasco will see double-daily Alaska Airlines service. The route to Jackson Hole will operate twice a week and end on September 30. Meanwhile, all of the new routes from Anchorage will end on August 15. The route to Boston will only operate on Saturdays, while the other two will operate twice a week.

The Aircraft That Alaska Airlines Will Use

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Because of the length of Alaska’s new route to Boston, the carrier will deploy the Boeing 737 MAX 8 on this route. The 737 MAX 8 is the longest-ranged aircraft in Alaska’s fleet, and the 737 MAX family is also the airline’s most fuel-efficient aircraft. In addition, it will use the Boeing 737NG on the route from Anchorage to Boise, although it is unclear which variant will be used.

For the rest of its new summer expansion, Alaska Airlines will be using Embraer E175 regional jets operated under the Alaska Horizon brand. It’s unclear whether these will be aircraft operated by SkyWest Airlines or Alaska Airlines’ subsidiary Horizon Air, but all E175s feature the same interior layout of 12 first class seats and 64 economy seats.

These routes are primarily short-haul routes tapping into lower-demand markets. As such, the E175 is the ideal aircraft for most of these routes, with one route featuring double daily Embraer frequencies. Meanwhile, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 is necessary for the route from Anchorage to Boston.

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Alaska Airlines’ Strategic Moves

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Alaska’s largest hub is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. While it holds a dominant position at SeaTac, the airport is constrained, and as such, there’s limited room to grow. This is especially true considering the size of the carrier’s network. Instead, it’s boosting its network at its secondary hubs.

Portland is a fragmented market, and while Alaska is Portland’s largest airline, a significant portion of the airport’s passengers fly on other airlines to their hubs. As such, Alaska is looking to develop Portland into another connecting hub. It lacks the local demand of Seattle, and as such, much of the growth is coming from regional jets. Anchorage, meanwhile, serves a unique role as being the gateway to the state of Alaska.