EVERETT — For the first time, an Alaska Airlines flight to Honolulu left Seattle Paine Field International Airport on Friday morning.
The fully booked flight on the Boeing 737-9 MAX became the longest flight offered from Paine Field, a trip more than 2,500 miles, estimated to take 6 hours and 15 minutes.
The Everett airport will offer daily nonstop flights to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on the island of Oahu, said Brett Catlin, vice president of network and alliances at Alaska Air Group.
The new service opens just in time for the holiday season. The forecast in Honolulu this week, by the way, is mostly sunny with a high in the low 80s.
As passengers boarded the plane, flight staff gave them inaugural flight coins. A musician played live Hawaiian music outside the gate.
Jenny Lee took Flight 819 with her two sons Friday to visit her parents, who live in Hawaii.
Lee, who lives in Seattle, came to Paine Field because it is a smaller and nicer airport than Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and it’s easier to get through, she said.
“It’s a big deal,” Catlin said. “So many people don’t know that we have this.”
The first flight from Paine Field to Honolulu is prepared by grounds crew on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Catlin expects the flights to stay fully booked, especially throughout the holidays and colder winter months.
Lishi Sander and her husband, Blake, live in Everett. They flew to Honolulu to visit family for Thanksgiving. They noted the convenience of Paine Field’s location to their home, compared to driving (or taking public transportation) to Sea-Tac.
“It was way cheaper than flying out of Sea-Tac,” Lishi Sander said.
Round-trip flights departing were $500 to $800 around Christmas, according to Google Flights. Round-trip prices drop in January: $300 to $400.
Commerical flights began flying out of Paine Field in 2019. Alaska Airlines is the sole airline serving passengers in Everett. United Airlines discontinued flights out of Paine Field in 2021.
Paine Field now flies to 10 cities in five states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska and now Hawaii.
Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.
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