Alaska Airlines will fly from Everett to 8 West Coast cities [View all]

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EVERETT — Before announcing eight West Coast destinations they plan to serve from Paine Field starting this fall, executives at Alaska Airlines took a close look at where passengers from Snohomish County were already flying.

That led them to pick Portland, Phoenix and Las Vegas, as well as five California locales: Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose.

“They are some of the most popular (routes) for the Everett community, specifically,” said John Kirby, Alaska’s vice president of capacity planning. “We think it’s going to be very successful.”

Alaska Airlines unveiled the destinations Tuesday in a press release and a later media event at Paine Field. A passenger terminal is now under construction at the south Everett airport, after years of lawsuits and regulatory hurdles. There was a groundbreaking in June. Construction is on schedule to wrap up in July with air service starting in September.

The announced flights would max out capacity at the two-gate terminal.

Seattle-based Alaska last year became the first airline to commit to flying from the future terminal, but waited until now to reveal destinations. At the time, the airline envisioned nine flights per day.

“We received so much positive feedback when we announced the nine flights that we increased it to 13,” Kirby said.

All of the flights, at least initially, will be operated by Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group. Crews would start service with Embraer 175 jets. The E-175 has 76 seats. If demand grows at Paine Field, Alaska could start using versions of the Boeing 737 on some routes, more than doubling capacity.

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