Alaska Airlines Reduces Summer Flying to Improve On-Time Performance, Schedule Reliability

Alaska Airlines today announced that it has removed eight daily round trips from its summer schedule to improve the airline’s on-time performance and schedule reliability.

Flights eliminated from the summer schedule ending Sept. 10 include one Anchorage-Los Angeles round trip, one Anchorage-Phoenix round trip, one Seattle-Anchorage round trip, one Las Vegas-Seattle round trip and one Orlando-Seattle round trip. The airline’s single daily round-trip service between Miami and Seattle will be temporarily suspended until Oct. 30. The airline also postponed the start of twice-daily nonstop service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Seattle until Sept. 12.

"This is a temporary measure to get our operation back on track after record load factors and increased summer flying, coupled with ongoing company transitions, caused delays and cancellations to rise," Alaska’s CEO Bill Ayer said.

Reducing the number of scheduled flights each day will increase ground time between flights, create more spare aircraft and provide additional overnight time for maintenance and cleaning.

"We appreciate passengers’ patience during a period when Alaska has been faced with unprecedented challenges both inside and outside the company that have created distractions impacting daily operations," Ayer said. "At a time of high fuel prices and intense competition, we must continue on our transition path and manage our costs to ensure Alaska’s future."

  The following flights were removed from Alaska's schedule:

                     Flight
       Period        number        Routing             Departure   Arrival
   June 30-July 31   AS 109  Los Angeles-Anchorage     8:54 p.m.  1:13 a.m.
   July 1-Aug. 1     AS 106  Anchorage-Los Angeles     12:45 a.m. 6:54 a.m.
   June 30-Sept. 9   AS 855  Phoenix-Anchorage         8:11 p.m.  1:21 a.m.
   July 1-Sept. 10   AS 854  Anchorage-Phoenix         12:05 a.m. 6:35 a.m.
   June 12-Sept. 10  AS 195  Seattle-Anchorage         1:15 p.m.  3:49 p.m.
   June 12-Sept. 10  AS 164  Anchorage-Seattle         4:30 p.m.  8:51 p.m.
   July 19-Sept. 11  AS 808  Seattle-Dallas Ft. Worth  11:20 a.m. 5:10 p.m.
   July 19-Sept. 11  AS 809  Dallas Ft. Worth-Seattle  6:10 p.m.  8:10 p.m.
   July 19-Sept. 11  AS 810  Seattle-Dallas Ft. Worth  11:30 p.m. 5:20 a.m.
   July 20-Sept. 12  AS 811  Dallas Ft. Worth-Seattle  8 a.m.     10 a.m.
   July 1-Sept. 10   AS 630  Seattle-Las Vegas         10:32 a.m. 12:58 p.m.
   July 1-Sept. 10   AS 631  Las Vegas-Seattle         1:31 p.m.  4:05 p.m.
   July 3-Sept. 9    AS 10   Seattle-Orlando           10:05 p.m. 6:23 a.m.
   July 4-Sept. 10   AS 9    Orlando-Seattle           7:25 a.m.  10:16 a.m.
   July 3-Oct. 28    AS 16   Seattle-Miami             10:16 p.m. 6:54 a.m.
   July 4-Oct. 29    AS 17   Miami-Seattle             8 a.m.     11:16 a.m.

Customers whose travel plans have been impacted by this schedule change will be proactively contacted by Alaska Reservations about their new flights and times.

Alaska Airlines and sister carrier, Horizon Air, together serve more than 80 cities through an expansive network throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, Canada and Mexico. For reservations visit alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines newsroom at http://newsroom.alaskaair.com/ .

SOURCE: Alaska Airlines