Cargo Chat: Alaska’s new SEA-NRT route will bring opportunities

With the combined force of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines following their merger in September 2024, the carriers are expanding their reach with new routes to Asia. From the carriers’ hub in Seattle (SEA), Hawaiian will begin daily passenger flights, with belly cargo space available on an A330-200, to Narita (NRT) in Japan on May 12. The carrier will add a nonstop flight from SEA to Incheon (ICN) in South Korea starting Sept. 12. [caption id="attachment_57150124" align="aligncenter" width="1110"] Ian Morgan, vice president of cargo at Alaska Airlines. (Courtesy/Alaska Airlines)[/caption] Alaska Airlines’ parent company, Alaska Air Group, acquired Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion in September 2024. Since then, the carriers’ cargo arms, Alaska Air Cargo and Hawaiian Air Cargo, have been co-locating their operations , though they continue to operate separately. “We have three times the number of potential routes than we had separately,” Ian Morgan, vice president of cargo at Alaska Airlines, told Cargo Facts . “That is one of the strengths we will be playing on very heavily.” Morgan assumed his role at Alaska in September 2024 just after the merger was completed. Morgan said Alaska Airlines, the only scheduled passenger airline in the United States to also operate its own freighters, will continue to explore route development. He sat down with Cargo Facts for further discussion. What follows is an edited version of the conversation. Cargo Facts : What advantages do you foresee resulting from the SEA-NRT route? Ian Morgan: This is our first kind of approach to that international widebody service, Seattle-Narita, Narita-Seattle. It’s an excellent positioning of widebody capacity, which is kind of my previous passion. Look at the connectivity that we are going to bring to that flight. We’re very strong in the four places we serve in Japan, especially Narita, and that will continue. There are really no concerns about that. And outbound, we attended the [Seafood Expo North America in] Boston [on March 15-17], and there was significant interest regarding this flight. A lot of people bring cargo from Alaska down to Seattle, [where they] reconfigure it, retender it. And what they’re saying is, “You now allow us the ability to move cargo all the way through in one seamless transaction.” CF : How has the Alaska-Hawaiian merger affected routes? IM: The route connectivity that is occurring between the two carriers is providing significant additional revenue streams for the freighter operation. So really, what we’re seeing is an improving performance on the freighter side, again because we have the ability. It allows us to connect markets that we’ve never had the opportunity to before. CF : What are some considerations for Alaska when determining whether to create or eliminate a cargo route? IM: Economics is always going to be the key factor. ... Airport infrastructure is also always a key component of our route decisions and our ability to expand. If you take the Seattle hub, it’s a critical component of this international hub we are developing. We just invested almost $2 million in the infrastructure of that facility to allow us the ability to handle that widebody unitized cargo a lot better. CF : What role do partnerships with freight forwarders and logistics companies play in route selections? IM: I was having a meeting with a certain customer four weeks ago and there was a whole conversation about route development and where they saw they needed capacity. “Could this become a possibility with this distribution?” We will always gauge the interest of the forwarding community. They’re critical to our success. Last week at the Boston seafood expo, somebody needed a flight for these three days to operate on this route to bring a certain seafood in that is just for those three weeks. So that person is coming to us and saying, “Can you establish that route for us and enable me to capture that business and enable me to move it?” The conversation is always going to include the freight forwarder and include the shipper, so we’re guided correctly. CF : How do fuel costs and sustainability initiatives influence route selection and optimization? IM: Route profitability is clearly affected by the price of fuel. But also, as you look at the fuel efficiency ... that obviously opens up additional route opportunities. Hawaiian’s 787 can almost hit any point out of Seattle, there and back. That efficiency and that range combined position us very well with that route discussion, route development and route decision. Register now for Cargo Facts EMEA, an essential regional event for industry stakeholders, on May 6-8 at the Shangri-La Bosphorus in Turkey.

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