Alaska Airlines to Resume Long Beach – Portland Link

Alaska Airlines has confirmed it will resume non-stop services between Portland, Oregon, and Long Beach, California from March 12, 2012. The airline previously flew the route for around a one year period up until April 2010 and will offer a daily rotation between the two cities using a 70-seat Bombardier CRJ700 of regional partner SkyWest Airlines.

The route is already served by JetBlue Airways on a twice daily basis, but Alaska Airlines’ prior knowledge of the market will give it the confidence that it will be able to compete with the low-fare carrier. JetBlue launched its own services on the route in October 2008 originally using Embraer 190s but it is now flying Airbus A320s. An estimated 9,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year.

"The addition of Portland-Long Beach gives our customers another conveniently timed alternative for traveling between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California," said Joe Sprague, Vice President of Marketing, adding that the service augments the carrier's existing three times daily Seattle-Long Beach link.