The airline began serving the airport in 2002.
Airlines and airports have a strategic relationship, benefitting from each other’s services and, in many cases, lasting for years and decades. And Alaska Airlines and Denver International Airport recently celebrated one such milestone, with Alaska marking 22 years of service in Denver.
Two decades of service
Alaska Airlines has been flying to Denver International Airport (DEN) for more than two decades. The carrier’s inaugural service to DEN was on April 28, 2002, with three daily departures to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). Today that has increased to several more flights across multiple destinations. DEN CEO, Phil Washington, commented,
“We are extremely appreciative of Alaska Airlines’ commitment to DEN and our community over the last 20 years. Not only do they help connect our community to the world, but they share similar values as DEN through their commitment to diversity and equity in education. We look forward to many more years of partnership that will continue to positively impact our community.”
Over 8.5 million passengers served
While multiple airlines connect passengers from Denver to Seattle, Alaska Airlines takes the crown of being the top carrier, capturing passenger demand between the two destinations. Since 2002, it has transported more than four million passengers between Denver and Seattle and more than 8.5 million passengers on its flights through DEN.
What started as a service between Denver and Seattle has now extended to two other destinations: Portland and Anchorage. In 2002, Alaska had three daily departures to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Today, it has an average of seven flights daily to three destinations and, according to Cirium Aviation Analytics, over 370 return flights to and from Denver in May. Brett Catlin, vice president of network and alliances at Alaska Airlines, commented,
“We continue to grow in Denver, including with new flights to Anchorage and Portland over the past two years. As new infrastructure at the airport comes online, we look forward to potential opportunities in the years ahead.”
Other Alaska Airlines news
The airline has had a mixed year so far. In January, Alaska was in the news for the midair blowout incident of one of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, which started another series of inspections for Boeing and temporarily grounded all of Alaska’s MAX 9 planes. The carrier was recently also compensated by Boeing for the losses incurred from operational disruptions following the incident.
Still, it managed to rank as the top American airline for the second year in a row, according to the ACSI Travel Study, with a score of 82. The study was based on interviews with 16,352 customers randomly chosen and contacted via email between April 2023 and March 2024.
Alaska has also been expanding its flight network in California, offering more flights and expanding services from LAX and San Diego. It recently announced that it will launch new routes from San Diego to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas from October 1 and will fly nonstop from LAX to Pasco/Kennewick (Tri-Cities).
In October, Alaska will also start connecting Santa Rosa to Vegas, operating the service year-round on the E175. This will be its seventh destination from the Northern California airport.
This article originally appeared on Simple Flying
Image source: Wenjie Zheng | Shutterstock