Alaska Airlines Expands Winter Fun With 18 New Ski & Sun Destinations

Looking for a bit of winter sun or a ski destination? Alaska Airlines is looking to fly you on one of its 18 new routes for the winter season. The oneworld Alliance carrier has revealed a range of new connections and three new destinations across its network, which are set to start later this year.

A range of connections

The new routes feature a surprising number of combinations, with significant expansion outside Alaska’s core hub cities in addition to new routes from Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. There is a mix of adventure destinations, reliable leisure locations, and winter sports havens in the US and internationally.

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The Colorado mountainside town of Vail (EGE) will be a new destination for the carrier this winter. Along with La Paz (LAP) and Monterrey (MTY) in Mexico, which were announced last week. Kirsten Amrine, Vice President of Network Planning and Revenue Management at Alaska Airlines, highlighted the new offerings:

“We’re thrilled to offer convenient connection for guests across our network with this expansion – whether checking destinations off their bucket lists or setting off to their favorite winter getaways; we’ve put together an exciting range of options from tropical destinations across Mexico to the most popular ski slopes in North America.”

Photo: Alaska Airlines

Tickets for all 18 routes are set to go on sale today, Wednesday, July 10th.

From ski to shining sea

New to the Alaska Airlines network this winter is Vail’s Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE). The area is one of Colorado’s most famous ski resorts and is situated around two hours west of Denver. It will also be served with flights from San Diego and Seattle. Joining Vail in ski destinations opened up to new travelers this summer is the Canadian city of Kelowna (YLW) for access to central British Columbia’s popular ski resorts. A nonstop service from San Diego to Reno for easy access to Lake Tahoe ski resorts is also set to begin in December.

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Disney lovers are in luck with three new routes from colder cities to the company’s resorts in Flordia and California. Idahoans are particularly lucky when it comes to sun-soaked routes this winter, as Alaska Airlines will commence routes from the state’s busiest airport, Boise (BOI), to both Orange County’s Santa Ana (SNA) for Disneyland and Orlando (MCO) to reach Disney World.

For adventure seekers, the carrier is concurrently launching a new winter-seasonal service from Boise to Bozeman (BZN), Montana, a gateway to Yellowstone National Park.

Theme park lovers will also be delighted to learn that the carrier is launching a flight from Sacramento (SMF), the Californian capital, to Orlando.

Sunshine and good times

In addition to its Disney destinations, the carrier is expanding across Latin America with a flurry of new beach routes. Eco-tourism fans from Seattle and San Francisco will soon be able to fly to Liberia (LIR), Costa Rica. The carrier began serving Costa Rica’s Gold Coast in 2015 and presently flies from Los Angeles (LAX). Liberia will become the carrier’s 104th nonstop route out of Seattle when the flight launches in December.

Popular destinations in Mexico are also getting a boost this winter. Alaska will become the first US carrier to connect Fresno (FAT) to Guadalajara (GDL) with daily flights and the only airline connecting New York with Puerto Vallarta (PVR). In addition to flights from New York JFK, Alaska will serve PVR from Kansas City (MCI) and Saint Louis (STL).

Photo: Alaska Airlines

Kansas City will also see a new link to Cancun (CAN), while Sacramento will get five weekly nonstop flights to Los Cabos (SJD). The Mexican expansion accompanies the news that Alaska Airlines will begin flights to La Paz and become the only US airline to fly between Monterrey (MTY) and Los Angeles.

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All of the newly announced routes are scheduled to be winter seasonal services, with the exception of Boisie-Orlando, which will extend into the following summer season. The full list of new destinations can be found below:

Other new additions to the carrier’s network this winter will include a previously announced link from Portland (PDX) to New Orleans (MSY), linking the Lousiana city to its top unserved destination.