Alaska Airlines has a variety of very interesting routes. However,
one of the most interesting routes will launch later this year when it flies nonstop between
Palm Springs and Austin starting on November 19th. Simple Flying spoke to Brett Catlin,
Alaska’s vice president of network and alliances to find out more.
First, it is important to recognize details about the route itself.
Starting November 19th and running through April 18th, Alaska Airlines will connect
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) with Palm Springs International Airport (PSP)
with five weekly flights using an Embraer E175. The flight is scheduled to run on a leisure
schedule. Departing Austin at 09:00 and arriving in Palm Springs at 10:35, the airline’s schedule
will allow leisure travelers the opportunity to have almost an entire day in the city. The
return flight leaves Palm Springs at 11:05 and arrives in Austin at 16:10, allowing travelers
to get home in time for dinner and to prepare for going back to work or school the next day.
The Embraer E175 operating the route will offer different experiences onboard.
There are 12 first class seats outfitted in a comfortable 1-2 configuration. This is followed
by 12 extra-legroom economy seats and 52 standard economy seats. Seating 76 passengers, this jet
is perfect for trying new, thinner routes. According to Mr. Catlin, the route is all
about testing two of Alaska’s most important strategies...
“The first [strategy] is we’ve got ten spokes on the West Coast where we’re building from a
position of strength. We’ve long been the largest carrier in Palm Springs. It’s a market that we
have a lot of interest in where we’ve built up strong community support over the years...Austin
was a natural extension of that. “Strategy number two was better
connecting our points of strength to big American Airlines hubs and focus cities. We have this great
crucible of demand in Palm Springs, and then American brings a strong demand for Austin.
With those two forces at play, we think this is a market that can be really successful.”
The airline’s exposure in California is incredible, and the airline only plans to keep
growing. As the only airline based on the West Coast, its natural route network bias is toward
connecting those points to new destinations and eliminating the need for connections,
even in its own network where it already relies on strong origin and destination traffic.
On the second strength, the alliance with American Airlines was announced in early 2020,
and it has held even through the crisis. For Alaska,
the partnership does not necessarily impede the airline’s ability to grow.
Instead, it now has new points and destinations it can add because of that partnership.
As always, there’s an inherent risk with adding a new route. Even some of the best network planners
don’t get it right 100% of the time, and demand trends can shift. To this concern, Catlin said...
“I would say Palm Springs’ load factors are strong. It’s actually a different dynamic where
it used to be very seasonal where huge demand in the winter would taper off in the summer.
What we’ve seen is that it’s become more of a year round market.
So people that maybe would spend time in the winter, they bought a house there now,
and they want to visit in the summer, even when temperatures are over 100 degrees. And so
we’re actually thinking about how we build [Palm Springs] into more of a year round destination...”
Of course, time will tell if this route works. The airline is using the perfect plane to make
the route a success and, if it is as successful as it could be, the route could easily convert to
year-round service or see an upgauge in the peak season to larger aircraft like the Boeing 737.
Do you think this will be a successful route for Alaska Airlines? Let us know in the comments.