Alaska Airlines is pushing deeper into Asia-Pacific territory. Just days after the oneworld member shared more detail about its long-haul ambitions, the carrier announced two new nonstop routes from its Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) hub: Osaka and Tahiti. Both will be flown with Hawaiian Airlines’ Airbus A330-200s, a sign that the merged airline is treating the widebody fleet as a launch platform rather than a legacy asset.
Seattle to Osaka Kansai: A Market Rebuilt From Scratch
On May 14, 2027, Alaska Airlines will begin flying from SEA to Osaka International Airport (KIX). The route covers 4,380 nautical miles (8,112 km) each way. OAG data shows it was most recently served by Delta Air Lines in 2019. The SkyTeam member originally flew it between 2010 and 2013 after inheriting the route from Northwest Airlines. Alaska’s arrival builds on Hawaiian’s long-standing Honolulu-to-KIX operation, giving the group a second gateway into the Japanese market.
Booking data tells a quieter story than the announcement suggests. In the 12 months to August 2026, only 27,000 round-trip passengers traveled between SEA and KIX, and every one of them flew indirectly. Even so, it was SEA’s largest unserved market in North Asia. That gap is exactly what Alaska is betting on: the average SEA-KIX fare ran 36% lower than fares from San Francisco International Airport (SFO), a discount driven partly by thinner premium traffic. Nonstop service should lift the local market and command a fare premium from travelers who value a single flight over a connection.
The schedule runs four times weekly. AS867 departs SEA at 12:10 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, arriving KIX at 4:00 PM the next day. The return, AS868, leaves KIX at 6:00 PM on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, reaching SEA at 12:20 PM the same day.
Seattle to Tahiti: Overnight Flights to Faa’a
On June 11, 2027, Alaska Airlines will open SEA to Papeete’s Faa’a International Airport (PPT) with three weekly overnight departures to the South Pacific. These flights will coexist with the group’s long-established service from Honolulu. Like SEA-KIX, the Washington state-to-Tahiti link has existed before: Air Tahiti Nui launched it in October 2022 and ran it until January 2026, briefly extending the service to Paris Charles de Gaulle between June 2023 and January 2025 before reverting to a standalone terminator.
The precedent is sobering. Department of Transportation data for the 12 months to January 2026 shows Air Tahiti Nui filled just 39.3% of seats on SEA-PPT, against 86.7% on its Los Angeles flights after Delta withdrew in June 2025. Yet between September 2025 and August 2026, 36,000 passengers flew the city pair, a local market roughly a third larger than SEA-KIX, with fares 7% higher. Alaska expects to grow that market and capture a far larger share than its predecessor managed, though routing many US cities via SEA adds a meaningful detour.
AS987 departs SEA at 11:55 PM on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, landing at 7:20 AM the next morning. AS988 returns from PPT at 5:00 PM on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, arriving SEA at 6:00 AM the same day.
Why Seattle’s Geography Makes These Routes Work
Alaska will be the second US operator flying nonstop between the Lower 48 and KIX next year. United Airlines already connects Osaka from both Los Angeles (LAX) and SFO. Add Canada and three North American carriers will serve KIX, with Air Canada flying from Vancouver (YVR) and Toronto Pearson (YYZ). Like SFO and YVR, SEA sits well for connections across the US mainland and Canada, which will be essential for consistently filling the A330-200s. Key feed markets include LAX (129,000 passengers), SFO (62,000), YVR (34,000), YYZ (31,000), New York JFK (25,000), Las Vegas (23,000), Chicago (19,000), and Portland (18,000), with many more cities above 10,000.
Alaska Now Holds 9 Long-Haul Routes From Seattle
Alaska has scheduled nine routes from SEA to Asia-Pacific and Europe in 2027. The lineup includes Athens (May 12, 2027; three weekly 787-9), Paris CDG (May 25, 2027; five weekly 787-9), Osaka (May 14, 2027; four weekly A330-200), London Heathrow (daily 787-9), Reykjavík Keflavík (daily 737 MAX 8), Papeete (June 11, 2027; three weekly A330-200), Rome (daily 787-9), Seoul Incheon (daily 787-9), and Tokyo Narita (daily 787-9). Hong Kong has been speculated as a future destination, while Sydney was hinted at earlier this year.
