Alaska Airlines To Add Services For Expansion In California

In a bid to further penetrate into the Californian market, Alaska Air Group’s (NYSE:ALK) subsidiary Alaska Airlines announced two new services connecting San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport with San Diego International Airport and Portland International Airport. These nonstop flights will operate once daily. Tickets on these routes are currently available for sale.

While the service between San Luis Obispo and San Diego will begin on Jan 7, 2020, that between San Luis Obispo and Portland will be effective Jun 18 next year.

The above-mentioned services further strengthen the carrier’s footprint in California, building on its previously announced routes connecting San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego with Anchorage, Boise, Spokane and Redmond/Bend.

Apart from Californian expansion, the announcement of the new services is a step forward to the carrier’s aim of strengthening its West Coast base. To this end, last month, the airline announced plans to start operating additional non-stop flights between the Pacific Northwest and the states of Alaska and California next year.

In this regard, Alaska Airlines intends to add eight routes connecting the “vibrant Pacific Northwest communities” with cities in California like Los Angeles and San Francisco. For instance, there will be two daily departures from Spokane to Los Angeles and San Francisco each. (Read more: Alaska Airlines to Boost West Coast Presence With New Routes)

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Alaska Air Group carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) , Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:VLRS) and Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Allegiant, Controladora Vuela and Copa have rallied more than 47%, 80% and 29% so far this year, respectively.

Wall Street’s Next Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

Click for details >>