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Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merged last year. While the two airlines are keeping their brand identities, they are combining loyalty programs, have shifted operations at airports around the country, and are reallocating aircraft to open international routes from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). We first heard about a few routes to Asia being added by Hawaiian Airlines and now Alaska Airlines is adding its first European nonstop route with flights to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) beginning in May 2026.
The new flights will run 4x weekly using Boeing 787-9 aircraft with 34 First Class and 266 Main Cabin seats. Flights to Rome will run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Return flights will run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Alaska Airlines CEO, Ben Minicucci, said:
Serving Rome nonstop from Seattle is a dream come true. As an Italian American whose parents emigrated from Italy, this is a particularly meaningful addition to our network. Rome has been at the top of the list ever since we announced our new global gateway out of Seattle. Our guests have been asking for an easy way to get to Italy for years, and we’re thrilled to provide it to people in the Northwest and beyond. Andiamo – let’s go!”
Tickets will go on sale this fall for the May 2026 launch. Alaska has shared that it also plans to add nonstop flights to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). In addition to this being a first for Alaska Airlines, this is the first time that Seattle and Rome have been connected nonstop. Let’s see if Delta decides to add a competing route.
Anthony’s Take: Connecting the Emerald City with the Eternal City is great. This expansion has been coming and now we know more details. It’s exciting to see Alaska and Hawaiian combine to offer more routes and better aircraft utilization.
(Featured Image Credit: Christopher Czermak via Unsplash.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
