Alaska Air Group has aims to add Boeing 787-9s to its widebody orderbook, according to the company’s pilots.
In a recent episode of The Alaska Pilots Podcast, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Hawaiian Master Executive Larry Payne said the company announced, “there’s five additional 787 orders.”
The two airlines are now in an integration period after Alaska closed on its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines in September 2024. Through the merger, Alaska has inherited Hawaiian’s widebody fleet, which offers numerous options to broaden its network footprint. The Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery database shows Hawaiian has three 787-9s in service and one aircraft parked. The carrier also operates 23 Airbus A330-200s with one aircraft parked. Its 787-9 orderbook encompasses eight aircraft.
Payne also said the company is going to “open a Hawaiian 787 base in Seattle on March 2, 2026,” explaining vacancies for that bid will be posted on July 9, 2025, “with 15 Captain and 30 FO [first officer] positions, is what we’ve been told.”
Alaska aims to launch new service from Seattle to Rome in May 2026.
Shortly after Alaska outlined it plans to serve Rome, Delta Air Lines stated it aims to launch flights from Seattle to Rome and Barcelona, also in May 2026. According to Aviation Week’s CAPA, Alaska represents 56% of Seattle Tacoma International airport’s system departing frequencies followed by Delta’s roughly 20%.
Alaska launched flights under the Hawaiian banner from Seattle to Tokyo Narita with A330-200s. The company plans to introduce service to Seoul in October.
Seattle-based Alaska has stated that it and Hawaiian will operate as separate brands. In April 2025, Alaska executives said unit revenues of Alaska’s “Hawaiian Airlines assets” were up 9% year-over-year in the first quarter, nearly twice the system average.
Alaska did not respond to a request for comment.
Related Content
