Pittsburgh airport lands nonstop route to Seattle

Flights bolster city’s bid for Amazon HQ2

Pittsburgh International Airport has secured a coveted nonstop flight to Seattle, one that not only fills a key gap in the market but bolsters the region’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters.

Alaska Airlines will start the year-round daily flight to the Emerald City on Sept. 6, 2018. It will serve Pittsburgh with a Boeing 737 jet from its hub at SeattleTacoma International Airport.

The flight will depart Pittsburgh at 5:20 p.m. and land in Seattle at 7:50 p.m. The daily return flight leaves Seattle at 8:25 a.m. and touches down in Pittsburgh at 4:10 p.m.

Securing the service is another key victory for the airport and Christina Cassotis, the Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO who was under tremendous pressure to land the flight given the region’s full-court press to get Amazon’s HQ2, with its promise of up to 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment.

vice president of capacity planning.

Whether Alaska Airlines opens a non-stop flight to San Francisco depends largely on statistical models and whether demand is large enough, Mr. Kirby said. The timeline can be as short as a few months.

When Alaska Airlines announced a non-stop flight between Indianapolis and Seattle, an announcement for one to San Francisco followed before the initial nonstop flight even started taking passengers.

Ms. Cassotis has made the flight to Seattle a priority since taking over as CEO in January 2015. Pittsburgh is the largest unserved market out of Seattle, according to the airport authority.

“This is a major win for our region, for both passengers and businesses,” Ms. Cassotis said. “Increased service to the West Coast has been a top priority and we are thrilled to add year round, daily nonstop service to Seattle as part of our growing portfolio. Pittsburgh’s burgeoning economy has strong ties throughout the West Coast, making Alaska Airlinesa natural fit.”

Currently, about 100 people flybetween Pittsburgh and Seattle each way daily. A direct flight is expected to at least double that figure, Ms. Cassotissaid.

“If Amazon chooses Pittsburgh, the service would come no matter what. So if Amazon chooses Pittsburgh, we’ll just get more service,” shesaid.

The flight is a sign of Pittsburgh’s growing tech market, rather than a move to secure anAmazon bid, she said.

She added that it’s always a risk for an airline to open a flight in a new region. Alaska Airlines and the Allegheny County Airport Authority had been working on the deal for three years.

The flight won’t come without a cost. Authority officials are paying Alaska Airlines $500,000 over two years for marketing support and any other startup costs.

It is not the first time the airport authority has done so to secure choice service.

Authority officials are paying $800,000 over two years to Wow Air to fly between Pittsburgh and Iceland. They are shelling out $500,000 over two years for Condor Airlines’ seasonal flight to Frankfurt, Germany. The authority also paid a “significant” amount to Qatar Airways to begin cargo service at the airport but has refused to divulge the amount.

Alaska Airlines, whose roots date to 1932, is the fifth largest U.S. airline, according to its website. The airline has been rated as the highest in customer satisfaction among traditional carriers in North America for 10 straight years in studies by J.D. Power and Associates.

Last December, it acquired Virgin America airlines, helping to bolster its West Coast presence. The two airlines are expected to be granted a single operating certificate by the FAA in 2018.

The addition of Alaska brings the airport to 68 nonstop destinations from Pittsburgh, many of them coming after Ms. Cassotis become CEO. It had 37 at the end of 2014.