Alaska Airlines to begin Seattle to Seoul flights using Hawaiian Airlines A330s

March 28, 2025

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As part of an ongoing expansion program that will also see the carrier head to Tokyo in Japan, Alaska Airlines has announced that it will begin direct nonstop flights between Seattle and Seoul in South Korea on September 12, 2025. Like the route to Tokyo, Alaska Airlines will deploy the fleet of widebodied Airbus A330-200 operated by its newly acquired partner airline Hawaiian Airlines, which it completed a merger with in 2024.

With the inauguration of these new longer routes from Seattle (daily services to Tokyo start on May 12, 2025), the US West Coast city is fast developing into a major international hub for the Alaska Airlines Group, with Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SEA) having already been Alaska Airlines’ spiritual home for domestic services for many years. The carrier’s Seattle hub is the largest airline hub on the West Coast, serving 104 nonstop destinations across North America and beyond.

According to an airline statement, by 2030, the carrier plans to serve at least 12 nonstop international destinations with widebody aircraft from Seattle, including the new flights to Seoul-Incheon Airport (ICN) and Tokyo-Narita Airport (NRT).

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“With our robust network, we can connect our guests through our global gateway in Seattle for convenient nonstop service to Seoul and Tokyo, with additional connections to other Asian destinations with our global partners,” said Andrew Harrison, Chief Commercial Officer at Alaska Airlines. “As we grow our global network from Seattle in the coming years, we’ll announce new international routes to dynamic destinations that we know our guests are going to love to visit.”

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The new service between Seattle and Seoul Incheon (with a distance of 5,216 miles/8,345km) has been timetabled to commence just before the start of Chuseok, also known as Korean Thanksgiving Day, one of the Asian nation’s most important and festive holidays. It takes place in early October 2025, and will “allow travelers to visit with family and friends in South Korea using Hawaiian’s award-winning service and hospitality,” added an Alaska Airlines statement.

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Although the flights will be operated by Hawaiian’s 24-strong fleet of Airbus A330-200s, the longer-range variant of the popular twin-engine widebody, all flights between Seattle and Seoul will be marketed and sold by Alaska Airlines. According to ch-aviation, Hawaiian’s aircraft can accommodate 278 passengers in a three-class configuration (18 in business class, 68 in economy plus, and 192 in economy). The equipment used on the route is due to switch to the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, of which Hawaiian currently has two with a further ten on order.

Alaska Airlines (through Hawaiian) will initially operate non-stop flights from Seattle to Seoul five times per week, with westbound services departing from Seattle at 15:25 local time daily from Wednesday through to Sunday. Crossing the international date line while heading to Seoul and losing a day en route, the flights are due to arrive in Seoul at 18:50 the following day. The eastbound flights are scheduled to depart from Seoul at 20:50 after two hours on the ground, arriving back in Seattle at 15:00 local time on the same day. This arrival time will allow passengers to connect onwards to the bank of afternoon and evening flights departing Seattle operated by Alaska Airlines and its partners.

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The Seattle to Seoul route is already a competitive market that Alaska Airlines will be joining in September 2025. Three other airlines are already active and established on the route, with each of the others offering a daily service. From the US, Delta Air Lines uses its 281-seat Airbus A350-900s on the route, while Asiana flies daily using 301-seat Boeing 777-200LRs, and its new parent airline Korean Air using 325-seat Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners.

With this trio of airlines already incumbent on the route offering 1,967, 2,107, and 2,275 seats in each direction per week respectively, Alaska Airlines (with its 1,390 seats each way) will certainly be the underdog on the route. However, the strong advantage that Alaska Airlines will have over its rivals is the strength of its hub at Seattle and the breadth of its onward connections offering from the West Coast hub.