Alaska Airlines is adding two more dots to its global route map from Seattle, with new nonstop service to Athens and Paris beginning in spring 2027. Both routes will be operated by the Boeing 787-9, and there is already some saver-level award space available on select dates. Can Alaska sustainably grow longhaul service from SEA?
Alaska Airlines Adds Nonstop Flights From Seattle To Athens And Paris
Alaska Airlines continues to build out Seattle as a global gateway, announcing two new transatlantic routes for 2027: Athens (ATH) and Paris (CDG).
Alaska announced both routes today, and tickets are already on sale.
Athens will begin on May 12, 2027 and operate three times weekly through October. Paris will follow on May 25, 2027 and operate five times weekly through October.
Both routes will use Alaska’s Boeing 787-9 with 34 business class suites and 266 economy class seats.
Alaska Airlines Seattle-Athens Schedule
Athens is the more interesting of the two additions because Alaska will be the first airline ever to operate nonstop service between Seattle and Athens, and the route will also be the only nonstop between the West Coast and the Greek capital.
It will also become the longest route Alaska has ever operated.
- AS196 – Seattle to Athens – departs 4:30 pm, arrives 2:20 pm+1
- AS197 – Athens to Seattle – departs 4:20 pm, arrives 6:55 pm
The eastbound flight will operate Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the westbound flight will operate Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
The flight number AS196 is intentional, a nod to Athens as the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Athens is a very seasonal market, but three weekly flights strikes me as a sensible way to enter it and the lack of any other West Coast nonstop (for now…) gives it a genuinely unique selling point.
Alaska Airlines Seattle-Paris Schedule
Paris is a much more competitive proposition.
- AS136 – Seattle to Paris – departs 5:25 pm, arrives 12:25 pm+1
- AS137 – Paris to Seattle – departs 2:25 pm, arrives 3:50 pm
The route will operate five times weekly.
Alaska says Paris is one of the most searched destinations on its website, which is not surprising. Paris is one of the largest and most important transatlantic markets from Seattle.
But Alaska will not have the market to itself. Delta and Air France already fly nonstop between Seattle and Paris, so Alaska is walking directly into one of Delta’s stronger international markets from SEA.
Alaska has repeatedly made clear that it intends to turn Seattle into a genuine global hub, and you do not accomplish that by avoiding competitive markets. London, Paris, Tokyo, and other major global cities are precisely the places Alaska needs to serve if it wants to become relevant to international business and premium leisure travelers in the Pacific Northwest…but I bet on Delta and Air France responding with fares that will try to make Alaska bleed on this new route.
Alaska Keeps Building Its Seattle Global Hub
By summer 2027, Alaska will serve seven intercontinental destinations nonstop from Seattle:
- Athens
- Paris
- London
- Rome
- Reykjavik
- Seoul
- Tokyo
Alaska says it plans to operate at least 12 longhaul international routes from Seattle by 2030, so there are at least five more destinations still to come, which is quite a transformation for an airline that, until very recently, was essentially a domestic carrier with a small smattering of international routes served by 737s.
And with additional 787s coming, Alaska clearly intends to keep going.
Alaska notes that its network will permit same-day Honolulu-Paris connections via Seattle, giving passengers from Hawaii another option to Europe as well.
Saver Award Space Is Available Now
The routes are already bookable, and I am seeing saver-level award availability on select dates. The space is few and far between in business class, but there are dates where the new flights can be booked at attractive mileage levels (95K Alaska Atmos or 57.5K AA Advantage).
Book sooner than later if interested, but keep monitoring as space comes and goes.
I’m see paid economy class fares starting at $998 round-trip (much cheaper, currently, than Delta or Air France) or $6,795 in business class.
CONCLUSION
Alaska Airlines will add nonstop Boeing 787-9 service from Seattle to Athens and Paris in May 2027, bringing its Seattle intercontinental network to seven destinations.
Athens will (currently) be the only nonstop between the West Coast and the Greece, while Paris puts Alaska directly against Delta and Air France on an important Seattle transatlantic route.
We can debate sustainability, but this is great news for consumers: Alaska is moving quickly from a regional powerhouse into a genuinely global airline, and Athens and Paris are logical additions as that transformation continues.
This is clearly a play at Delta’s JV with AF on Paris and an overall play for hub dominance at SEA, especially in light of Delta’s hardball with their additional Tokyo-NRT route announced recently. (Read between the lines, folks.)
you have to wonder how AS mgmt thinks they will build a sustainable longhaul international network from SEA with so many flights to southern Europe which is much more seasonal and also outside of joint ventures
You can’t sustain a longhaul operation when half of it is to destinations with very seasonal demand.
in addition, a single west coast hub works best to Asia, not trying to compete to Europe where there are a half dozen large hubs w/ multiple TATL destinations to the east of SEA and, as noted, also into your competitors’ JV hubs.
AS should have added MAD and SYD neither of which have service from SEA.
AS just might be biting off more than it can chew w/ the HA merger and HA’s own network which is a drag on AS’ finances plus intense competition from WN at SAN and DL at SEA.