More flight options coming to Fresno. Who’s doing the flying, and where?
Travelers flying from Fresno to Los Angeles will have new options available in September as Alaska Airlines begins offering flights twice a day between the two cities.
Officials at Fresno Yosemite International Airport announced Alaska Airlines’ plans on Thursday. Alaska will join United Airlines and American Airlines as carriers heading from Fresno to Los Angeles International Airport.
Alaska Airlines already offers nonstop flights from Fresno to San Diego and to Seattle. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, it also offered nonstop flights to Portland, Oregon, but those are not currently available on the airline’s website.
“Alaska Airlines’ introduction of a new route is encouraging news and reflects our airline partner’s commitment to restoring air service in the communities they serve,” said Kevin Meikle, director of aviation for the city of Fresno.
The announcement of the new flights comes as the airline industry tries to recover after seeing the bottom fall out of the air travel market in the COVID-19 pandemic. But an Alaska Airlines official said the airline believes there is opportunity in Fresno. “We’ve seen positive performance in our secondary, intra-California markets including our other flights to Fresno,” said Michael Britman, director of network planning for Alaska Airlines. “And we’re eager to also see this flight do well.”
Two departures are planned each day for the 1-hour 10-minute flight from Fresno to Los Angeles — one at 7:30 a.m. and the other at 2 p.m. Return flights will leave Los Angeles at 12:05 p.m. and 7:55 p.m. The Alaska Airlines flights to and from Los Angeles will be operated using Embraer E175 jets.
The aircraft ordinarily have a seating capacity of 76 passengers, but the airline’s website currently is not allowing would-be passengers to buy aisle seats except in the first four rows of first-class seats. By the time the flights begin in about 2 1/2 months, however, those operational plans could change depending on the coronavirus situation, an Alaska Airlines spokesman said Thursday.
Utah-based SkyWest Airlines, which has agreements with other airlines to operate the bulk of the flights to and from Fresno Yosemite International Airport, will operate the new flights as AlaskaSkyWest.
In Fresno and nationwide, the coronavirus pandemic hit the airline industry – and airports – hard. In April, Meikle told The Bee that the number of airline passengers traveling to and from Fresno was down by about 95% compared to a year earlier, “and that’s pretty much the industry average.”
“Airports live and die by the number of passengers that come through,” he added in April. “So much of our revenue is based on the number of enplanements, or the number of passengers that board flights.”
