As we all know, the Alaska’s acquisition of Hawaiian is a growth strategy for itself. The first fruits of this will be flights to Tokyo and Seoul commencing SOON. However, thanks to a recent interview with CEO Ben Minicucci, we now know that Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026.
Late last week, the Seattle Times caught up with Alaska Air CEO Ben Minicucci to discuss its network and fleet strategies, along with the status of its integration work with Hawaiian. Naturally, the bit got the most attention was regarding their new destinations plans.
Alaska Air is Going to Europe in 2026
As the title of this pst suggests, Minicucci states that Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026, which represents the airline’s next international expansion forays. This has been rumored for several months now, so it isn’t a surprise to me, but it is exciting to finally get confirmation! After all, while we knew this was coming at some point, the timeline was quite ambiguous. And, to be honest, I’m a bit surprised they’re committing to that market this soon. I, along with many others, thought that further expansion in the Asia-Pacific region would follow Japan and Korea. That still might end up being the case, but Europe is coming very soon, too.
Alas, while we now know that Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026, what we don’t know is, you know, what country they’ll be targeting first. Italy comes up frequently, as the market isn’t served from the Pacific Northwest, though that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Alaska has competition on its first two international routes, with Korean/Asiana at Seoul and JAL at Narita. ANA flies SEA-HND, though I wouldn’t quite call that direct competition, as HND is Tokyo’s preferred airport.
Network Planning
Related to the fact that Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026, the Times talks to Minicucci and Kirsten Amrine about how they identify new destinations. As you might expect, this is a data-driven process for them. However, they also use their intuition about their fellow Seattleites. For example, they say area residents crave adventure, so even though the data didn’t support doing so, the airline opened a direct route to Belize. That ended up being a great bet, as the route has strong demand.
Sometimes, though, their bets don’t work out. An example of this is Nassau in the Bahamas, which Alaska started flying to in 2023 and ceased service this year. Minicucci says this doesn’t bother him, as the only thing they lose is opportunity cost. After all, planes are easy to re-deploy.
The point of all this, though, is that Alaska Air traditionally uses SEATAC to experiment with new routes, such as when they started flying to Regan. That’s also why international flights are starting out here. Minicucci goes on to say that even though Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026 from Seattle, if the route(s) perform well, you could see service from other domestic hubs to these international destinations, too.
Fleet Plans
There isn’t a lot of new info here, but Minicucci does say that even once integration is complete, the A330s will continue to be based out of Honolulu and will take advantage of Hawaiian’s existing maintenance infrastructure there. Moreover, they’re going to build a new maintenance facility somewhere on the West Coast for the Dreamliner fleet. That, to me, is interesting, since these birds are supposed to fly out of Seattle in support of Alaska’s international routes.
To me, the fact that the 787s will be maintained somewhere on the West Coast but fly for Alaska out of Seattle means that, perhaps, Hawaiian will retain some and that this maintenance location will be a focus city or hub for both airlines. Los Angeles seems like a no-brainer to me, as Hawaiian already does at least a portion of their 787 maintenance here. It might also explain why the 787 is now flying HNL-SEA, too. But, of course, I could be completely off-base.
Merger Update
The two items that will be completed this year are the biggies – the combined frequent flyer program and the single operating certificate. These milestones will be reached by the “end of the year,” which would put them slightly ahead of time of the usual timelines for these things. Next year, aside from the fact that Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026, we can expect to see the two airlines’ reservation systems merged – probably by the middle of the year. Then, in 2027, they expect to finalize the combined union agreements.
What’s still not being talked about, though, is how they’re going to handle keep the two brands separate. That said, Minicucci says he’s still 100% sold on the idea and doesn’t care what doubters and detractors have to say.
Final Thoughts
So, what do you think? Now that we know that Alaska Air is going to Europe in 2026, where do you think they’ll fly? It also begs the question – will this flight be operated by a “Hawaiian” Dreamliner? Or will we see our first Alaska-branded Dreamliner? For what it’s worth, line number 1236, which will be N784HA, is nearing delivery, while the next production slot for Hawaiian is 1268 (N785HA) is already on the schedule. As such, I expect that these two will be Hawaiian-branded. Sure, 785 could be flipped to AS. But, I’d assume that seats and whatnots are already on-order, so it’d be too late to change. As with everything, though, we shall see.