Alaska Airlines is increasing its network presence in San Diego and putting pressure on Southwest Airlines and other major US airlines.
The Seattle headquarters airline said on April 22 it plans to increase flights from San Diego by 30% in the coming months.
This year, we plan to launch new routes to Chicago, Denver and Phoenix. Each city receives three flights daily from San Diego. At that point, Alaska and its subsidiary Hawaiian Airlines will offer non-stop flights from cities in Southern California to 44 destinations.
Alaska says it's “of any airline.”
“We've expanded the number of frequencies on some of the most popular routes by more than 50% to meet the growing demand for premium products,” Alaska says.
Alaska, for example, plans to bolster the frequencies of existing routes to Las Vegas, Sacramento and San Jose with six daily flights and three daily flights to Salt Lake City.
On these routes, Alaska competes most head-on with Southwest. It has long been established in San Diego, a popular beach destination and metropolitan area of over 3 million people. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines also remain strong.
According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Southwest maintained a market share of nearly 33% at San Diego International Airport between February and January 2024, while Alaska, the US, Delta and United each held 12-13% slices of the market.
According to BTS, the most human routes at San Diego International during that period were in Denver, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
While Southwest has maintained its dominant position in San Diego, competitors have been targeting customers for the past few weeks, Frontier Airlines has made an obvious marketing pitch for Southwest Loyalists, and United's Scott Kirby has recently declared a victory with a wrestling clientele from Southwest.
Some Southwest rivals say they have the opportunity to gain market share since their carrier announced it would x its long-standing “bag fly-free” policy.
Meanwhile, Alaska is in the process of strengthening its West Coast network, which operates at major hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland and Seattle, and in recent months it has run its first Trans Pacific flight thanks to the long Hawaiian Howlfleet and hubs in Honolulu.
Parent company Alaska Airlines Group is working to combine Alaska and Hawaiian under one aviation provider's certificate following the $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaii, which was finalized in September 2024.
Alaska Airlines Group says it is currently working to co-host Alaska and Hawaiian client operations at Los Angeles International, John F. Kennedy International, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and San Francisco International Airport. That effort includes moving gates, ticket counters and other check-in infrastructure.
It plans to co-host Alaska-Hawaiian businesses in Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas later this year.
