It’s quite a transformative time for Alaska Air Group, as the company acquired Hawaiian Airlines, and is turning Seattle-Tacoma into a global hub, with plans to launch a dozen long haul routes by 2030.
So far, we’ve seen the airline add flights to Tokyo Narita (NRT), and then flights to Seoul Incheon (ICN) are coming as of September 2025, and flights to Rome (FCO) are coming as of May 2026. We now have the details of Alaska’s next long haul destination, in addition to Keflavik (KEF)…
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Alaska adding Seattle to London flights as of May 2026
As of May 2026, Alaska Airlines will launch daily nonstop flights between Seattle (SEA) and London Heathrow (LHR). The exact details for the 4,800-mile flight haven’t yet been announced, so we don’t yet know what the schedule will look like, or exactly on what day the route will launch.
Alaska will operate the flight with a Boeing 787-9, featuring 34 business class seats and 266 economy class seats. The company has also just revealed new branding plans for Dreamliners, as they’ll feature an all-new livery.
The flight is expected to go on sale as of this fall. Travelers can get on the “early access” list for the route here, and of course I’ll also cover when the flight actually goes on sale.
The market between Seattle and London is quite competitive, and is currently served by British Airways, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic. Alaska has a partnership with British Airways, while Delta and Virgin Atlantic have a joint venture. Alaska points out how 400 people travel between the two cities per day (which is a significant number, but it’s not exactly an underserved market).
My take on Alaska’s expansion to London Heathrow
On the surface, London Heathrow would likely be the first long haul destination that you’d expect a US airline to serve, though it’s not necessarily that straightforward.
First of all, I’m curious how exactly Alaska acquired slots for London Heathrow. I haven’t seen any regulatory filings for this, so have American or British Airways given Alaska a daily slot pair, or through what process was this acquired?
Next, of course this route seems like a no-brainer in terms of Alaska being a part of oneworld, along with British Airways. This means the route opens up all kinds of one-stop connectivity for Alaska customers, whether it’s between points in the Pacific Northwest and London, or between Seattle and points around the globe.
That being said, Alaska does have some general disadvantages here. One of the challenges with Alaska becoming a long haul competitor is that the airline doesn’t belong to any long haul joint ventures, which are ordinarily the most lucrative long haul services, since they allow airlines to coordinate schedules, fares, and more.
Airlines belonging to joint ventures generally try to book passengers within their joint ventures, given the revenue sharing policies in place. So Alaska likely won’t get much help from partners with filling seats on this flight. Then again, given Alaska’s strong presence in the Pacific Northwest, that’s not necessarily a huge issue. It might make it hard to secure some corporate contracts, though.
We know that Alaska is trying to join some long haul joint ventures, though that requires all parties to be onboard with that, and also requires regulatory approval. So it likely won’t happen overnight. Still, I think it’s likely that American may be happy to have Alaska join its long haul joint ventures, simply as a competitive move against Delta and United.
Bottom line
As of May 2026, Alaska Airlines will launch a new daily flight between Seattle and London Heathrow with a Boeing 787. I think it was a given that Alaska was going to fly to London, though it’s interesting that the airline has already secured slots.
It’s impressive to see Alaska’s long haul ramp up, and in particular, it’s cool to see the carrier’s branding strategy come to life.
What do you make of Alaska’s new Seattle to London Heathrow route?
Is this because BA is still short of aircraft so they are having AS fly the route for them?
That would explain the slots.
Who knows whether a code-share, a wet-lease or something else?
I'm struggling to reconcile "Alaska points out how 400 people travel between the two cities per day" and there being 3 direct flights. 400/900 => only 45% seat occupied? Or do they mean 1400 or 2400 including indirects? Or something else?
LHR makes sense. In the long run, what is the maximum number of European destinations that Seattle can support? I think very few.
London (Heathrow)
London (Gatwick)
Manchester
Paris
Frankfurt
Munich
Hamburg
Milan
Rome
Madrid
Barcelona
Tel Aviv
Such list is really fanciful, maybe only half can support flights.
Of course, there's west and south...
Sydney
Melbourne
Kaohsiung
Busan
Hong Kong
Osaka/Kansai
Fukuoka
China - but route authority is hard to get
Seattle to Sydney would be my pick.
Maybe this will prompt VS to reconsider switching the A330 back to the 787?
I will likely check this out on the return leg from LHR... as for departures, nah. Those Delta One lounges are a strong selling point, especially because of the food.
They will need to. I'm not sure who will want to fly in their 787 Upper Class compared to the much better TATL products available.
Capacity wise the A330neo and 787 are similar, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't. SEA-LHR (BA, AS, VS, DL) now has as many airlines flying it as LAX-LHR (AA, BA, UA, and VS) and more than SFO-LHR (UA, BA, and VS)
Good news, for me SEA is gateway to Alaska and I fly there often, recently with UA and changing in SFO.
As I’m a Seattle-based customer, I’m happy about this new service and I hope J award flights will have saver space that isn’t too egregiously priced. I’m also hopeful that BA western Europe connections will be included in the award price rather than an add-on.
I was hoping that the next AS Europe destination would be MAD as another OW gateway with strong IB connections. I’d just assume avoid connecting at LHR.
The other region that will be particularly interesting will be Australia - where there seems to be little to no mention of future AS/HA plans.
1. HA has a codeshare agreement with QF for HNL to Australian services (SYD, BNE and MEL) using A330's.
2. QF also has a long-standing codeshare agreement with AS
3. AA also has an extensive JV with QF and AS.
4. One has to wonder what will...
The other region that will be particularly interesting will be Australia - where there seems to be little to no mention of future AS/HA plans.
1. HA has a codeshare agreement with QF for HNL to Australian services (SYD, BNE and MEL) using A330's.
2. QF also has a long-standing codeshare agreement with AS
3. AA also has an extensive JV with QF and AS.
4. One has to wonder what will happen to HA services to Australia. Whilst it would make perfect sense for the combined HA/AS to continue service to Australia, will they remain as HNL-originating services. or will they be moved to originating in SEA (ie: SEA-HNL-SYD/BNE/MEL) ?
5. Surely, AS would want the additional exposure of the AS native brand on a SEA-Australia set of destinations, given QF's on-going and oft-mentioned interest in serving SEA non-stop ex SYD?
6. Prior to the HA/AS merger, HA announced that B787s would be introduced on these routes late 2025. With AS 'commandeering' HA's existing B787-9's and AS having new orders for additional frames, this will become quite interesting.
7. I can see a fascinating route tussle emerging here, particularly given AA, QF, AS and HA are all oneworld members. Neither DL or UA serve routes to Australia via HNL. Currently, QF and HA are the only two carriers serving the Hawaiian market.
8. Does this suggest that HA will continue to serve Australia with A330's for the foreseeable future. or will the origin-point become SEA with eventual new B787-9's ?
9. The comments below regarding possible codeshares (QF, AA, AS and HA) and JV's (QF, AA and AS) could also be a considerably tricky landscape to negotiate in terms of the 'competitive' government factors, especially with the Australian Government. Whilst Australia and the USA have an Open Skies agreement, the intricacies of such a one-sided oligopoly on these routes could become very challenging. Perhaps, that is why there is so little chatter about AS and HA's plans in the South Pacific ?
10. With New Zealand, HA also serves the HNL on a seasonal basis of 3 flights a week. However, with NZ (Star) being the dominant carrier, HA/AS influence is somewhat comparatively muted. Although, with AA and HA/AS having codeshares, this route could be somewhat slower to develop - depending on how AS wishes to expand.
I have to wonder if BA will lower its frequencies between SEA and LHR and if that's how AS got its slots. If all current services remain, the addition of AS will mean as many as 5 flights per day on the route. Sometimes, if you build it, they will come but that still seems like a lot of capacity.
I have similar thoughts about SEA-KEF. In high season, Icelandair operates 3 daily flights already....
I have to wonder if BA will lower its frequencies between SEA and LHR and if that's how AS got its slots. If all current services remain, the addition of AS will mean as many as 5 flights per day on the route. Sometimes, if you build it, they will come but that still seems like a lot of capacity.
I have similar thoughts about SEA-KEF. In high season, Icelandair operates 3 daily flights already. Icelandair is not in an alliance but is a FF partner of AS. Will they drop a frequency to accommodate AS or is this a net new flight?
@yoloswag420--I have only flown Virgin's 787 product in business class once, years ago. I enjoyed it. However, I did end up in a windowless window seat. I also enjoyed the bar, which I understand is going away. For me, the real advantage of Virgin/Delta from LHR is access to the special T3 entrance and its fast security and the excellent Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. However, if DL unbundles business class (and Virgin follows suit), that advantage will likely disappear.
LHR-SEA-OGG suits me just fine. Thank-you AS, I'll be a customer. :)
and AS is adding SEA-KEF on a seasonal basis on a MAX 8
Will EU/UK and US regulators approve such a JV though? I'm having a hard time fathoming everyone would be allowed to join hands freely, barring a lot of concessions. i.e. AA/BA slot divestments
@ yoloswag420 -- It's hard to say for sure. Keep in mind we're not talking about much scale here. Alaska will have at most 17 Dreamliners over time, and those will likely be evenly split between the Atlantic and Pacific. So an extra 10 long haul aircraft joining a joint venture hardly seems like something that couldn't get regulatory approval.
Keep in mind we're also seeing ITA added to the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture,...
@ yoloswag420 -- It's hard to say for sure. Keep in mind we're not talking about much scale here. Alaska will have at most 17 Dreamliners over time, and those will likely be evenly split between the Atlantic and Pacific. So an extra 10 long haul aircraft joining a joint venture hardly seems like something that couldn't get regulatory approval.
Keep in mind we're also seeing ITA added to the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture, and SAS possibly being added to the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture. So maybe some minor concessions will be needed, but I don't think it's a hurdle that can't be overcome.
the issue is not scale but overlap.
The US has not allowed two US airlines to be part of the same JV for the same route because a joint venture involves joint capacity planning, pricing and yield management. It is impossible for two US airlines to do the same function on the same route without sharing fairly extensive internal information and doing so would be anticompetitive.
Given that AA, AS and many foreign carriers...
the issue is not scale but overlap.
The US has not allowed two US airlines to be part of the same JV for the same route because a joint venture involves joint capacity planning, pricing and yield management. It is impossible for two US airlines to do the same function on the same route without sharing fairly extensive internal information and doing so would be anticompetitive.
Given that AA, AS and many foreign carriers use origin and destination revenue management systems which forecast demand on hundreds of possible connecting possibilities, it is problematic for AA and AS to even be a part of the same JV for some overlapping O&Ds that could be served over SEA on AS or AA or BA over other gateways.
BA is already the largest TATL carrier by number of flights served from one city while AS is particularly strong in the Pacific Northwest.
It is very likely that the US will allow AS to join oneworld JVs but at the expense of AA's presence on not just the SEA flight JV but perhaps even some markets where the combination of AA, AS and BA have high market share which includes many cities in the western US.
also, foreign airlines in Europe that are part of the same JV are either owned by the same group or have separate UK and EU homes.
This route makes far more sense than trying to fly to ICN where they are competing w/ multiple flights operated by the DL-KE JV plus KE's subsidiary Asiana.
If AS succeeds in joining oneworld JVs with its SEA-LHR flight, it will require AA to be removed from the AA-BA JV on that route since the US does not allow 2 US carriers to be in the same JV for the same route.
As for...
This route makes far more sense than trying to fly to ICN where they are competing w/ multiple flights operated by the DL-KE JV plus KE's subsidiary Asiana.
If AS succeeds in joining oneworld JVs with its SEA-LHR flight, it will require AA to be removed from the AA-BA JV on that route since the US does not allow 2 US carriers to be in the same JV for the same route.
As for the origin of the SEA-LHR slot, there are some remedy slots floating around as a result of the AA-BA JV so they could have received some of those.
let's see if AS has a late afternoon departure as they said they would do for continental Europe. For LHR, it would require a late evening departure from SEA or a long airplane sit at LHR.
"If AS succeeds in joining oneworld JVs with its SEA-LHR flight, it will require AA to be removed from the AA-BA JV on that route since the US does not allow 2 US carriers to be in the same JV for the same route."
Bingo. That's the key take-away here.... but honestly good riddance. AA was the weakest link on that route anyway, and if you want to fly AA to LHR then go via ORD and enjoy the new cabin.
This is one of the routes where AS providing long-haul service to LHR would likely give them a stronger position than DL.
DL's LFs on SEA-LHR really struggle outside of summer. In 2024 AviationDB had its LF at 86.3% from June-September. How about the other 8 months of the year? 63.9%. Their overall average was 71.1%.
Obviously this does not account for yields, but DL did shift frequencies last winter from SEA to MCO (reverting...
This is one of the routes where AS providing long-haul service to LHR would likely give them a stronger position than DL.
DL's LFs on SEA-LHR really struggle outside of summer. In 2024 AviationDB had its LF at 86.3% from June-September. How about the other 8 months of the year? 63.9%. Their overall average was 71.1%.
Obviously this does not account for yields, but DL did shift frequencies last winter from SEA to MCO (reverting that this year once AS started its intl buildup) indicating that while they may be decent, they're not high enough to account for DL's frequencies.
BA is the top performer in LFs (and allegedly yields) by a distance on this market and has a strong control over premium travel on the LHR side. AS with its significantly leading position at SEA should be able to capitalize on this. Now all eyes on whether AS does in fact join the 2 OneWorld JVs alongside AA which could make a big difference to their long-haul experiment.
I think VS using the 787 on this route really hurts it. The Upper Class product is too mediocre.
We're seeing DL maintain the daily this winter now, whereas VS was the one keeping daily frequencies in the winter, while DL shifted frequencies.
I do think that the data isn't fully representative though, as DL axed LAX-LHR last summer, which changed the overall West Coast capacity. DL's performance has improved as a result.
@yoloswag420, what makes you think the 787 is hurting VS on that route? I've personally never seen more than two empty seats (Week day) on that route... and even if we ignore personal anecdotes, just take a look at the reward seat availability to get an overview of demand. Obviously us avgeeks would prefer the A350/A330 but for regular vacation crowd they are just happy to be flying business with good service, and *employer-paid* business...
@yoloswag420, what makes you think the 787 is hurting VS on that route? I've personally never seen more than two empty seats (Week day) on that route... and even if we ignore personal anecdotes, just take a look at the reward seat availability to get an overview of demand. Obviously us avgeeks would prefer the A350/A330 but for regular vacation crowd they are just happy to be flying business with good service, and *employer-paid* business travelers sometimes don't have the option to decide between carriers.
VS operates the A330-900neo on LHR - SEA. I fly it often.
@Michael This is the first time ever that VS has used the A330neo on this route. It's historically been on the 787 and will switch back to 787 starting in October.
@Redacted, I'm not sure how you can conclude that just by anecdotally looking at it. The reward seat availability was very high for SEA-LHR on VS, especially when they changed to dynamic, most were below the saver costs.