Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) News

For immediate release:

August 4, 2009

Alaska Airlines starts new Austin-Seattle nonstop

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Alaska Airlines inaugurated daily nonstop service between Austin and Seattle, Wash., on Monday, August 3, 2009.

"Austin represents a great opportunity for Alaska Airlines, filling in a gap in our route map and fitting in our strategy of increasing capacity in markets where we can grow," said Steve Jarvis, Alaska's vice president of marketing, sales and customer experience.

The new flight departs Seattle at 9:45 a.m. and arrives at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 3:40 p.m. The return flight departs Austin at 4:40 p.m. and arrives at 6:45 p.m., all times local. Flights are timed to provide easy connections to other Alaska Airlines flights to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The flights are available for purchase at www.alaskaair.com or by calling 1-800-ALASKAAIR, (1-800-252-7522).

Travelers can earn double Mileage Plan miles on the new flights between Austin and Seattle from Aug. 3 through Oct. 15, 2009. To qualify, customers must first register at alaskaair.com. Passengers may also earn and redeem Mileage Plan miles on any Alaska Air partner including American Airlines, Continental and Delta.

Alaska Airlines is operating the flights with Boeing 737-800 aircraft, accommodating 16 passengers in first class and 141 in the main cabin. Flights offer Alaska's Northern Bites meals-for-purchase service, which allows coach passengers to purchase a meal onboard for $5. Inflight service also includes Alaska Airlines' digEplayer, a personal entertainment system offering a variety of movies, television shows, music and other features. Complimentary in first class, digEplayers are available for $10 in coach. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together serve more than 90 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport ranked in the top three for customer service among airports it size around the globe and third for any size in North America in the Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality Survey. Austin-Bergstrom has nonstop service to 37 destinations in the U.S. and Canada and served over 9 million passengers in 2008. A complete listing of all nonstop flight destinations from Austin and the airlines that serve them is available on www.abia.org, click on ‘airlines & flights.’

Source: City of Austin