Alaska Airlines Competes For Bellingham via Honolulu
If you're a fan of testosterone-fueled fights, airline planning departments are usually good places to look. For years, planners have slapped other airlines for stepping on their turf, and it sometimes turns into all-out war. Earlier today we saw some good action, with Southwest smacking Alaska (ALK). On top of that, Alaska is smacking Allegiant (ALGT) in the Bellingham to Honolulu market. This is a fight for the hearts and minds of . . . Canada? Yep.
Beginning January 7, 2011, Alaska will start daily flights from Bellingham, Washington to Honolulu. Not familiar with Bellingham? Think of it as Vancouver South. It sits right over the border and offers much cheaper fares for Canucks who want to fly to the US, since it doesn't incur international taxes. Allegiant discovered this years ago, and now has service from Bellingham to Las Vegas, Phoenix-Mesa, San Diego, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland. It's been a goldmine, but Alaska isn't happy about that.
In June 2009, Alaska began flying from Bellingham to Vegas three times a week. That's gone up to four times a week during the summer, but it appears that it's only a summer-seasonal service.
Alaska has been very aggressive with Hawai'i flying lately, but the Bellingham move is likely not one that would have been made without the threat of Allegiant starting that very same flight. Allegiant has purchased several 757s to begin flights to Hawai'i. The conventional wisdom is that Bellingham will without question be one of the airports to get flights to Hawai'i. With Allegiant's success at the airport and its proximity to sun-starved Canada, it's a no-brainer.
In fact, the airport is currently working to expand the runway at Bellingham specifically so 757s can be flown in. The airport will even shut for three weeks in September to make that happen. So with the writing on the wall, Alaska jumped in too.
Alaska is very territorial when it comes to the Pacific Northwest and generally doesn't stand for any incursions. The problem, however, is that Alaska isn't really well-equipped to stop Allegiant.
Allegiant's low cost, infrequent service model lends itself very well to serving some of these smaller locations. For Alaska, it doesn't have that same flexibility in general but that won't stop it from flexing its muscles.
So is this just an attempt to preempt Allegiant's efforts or is it actually a smart business decision? That remains to be seen, but I think it's safe to say this route wouldn't be starting without Allegiant's threat.
Alaska is flying to Hawai'i in the evening with a redeye return, so it's not taking up too much aircraft time during prime flying hours. Still, you need a lot of fuel and a lot of crew time to fly to Hawai'i. I tend to think this may be tough for them to make work, and it's unlikely to keep Allegiant out of the market. But hey, testosterone is a powerful thing.
Related:
- Alaska Challenges Allegiant with Bellingham - Las Vegas Flights
- Why Allegiant Shuffles Airports in Ways Most Airlines Wouldn't Dare
- Allegiant Air Tests Its Strategy Out West