Alaska Airlines Adds Osaka And Revives Failed Tahiti Route—Seattle Long Haul Doesn’t Look Good

Alaska Airlines is adding Seattle flights to Osaka and Tahiti using Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330s. One brings back a route that Air Tahiti Nui abandoned after losing millions of dollars. The other serves a Japanese gateway that’s long been a fallback for me when business class awards to Asia haven’t been available – because it simply doesn’t sell as well. I’m more surprised that they’re the next places Alaska wants to send its widebodies as it builds a global hub in Seattle. Osaka has a better story than Tahiti, especially with Alaska planning to join American Airlines and Japan Airlines in their transpacific joint venture. Ishrion Aviation flagged the new routes, and AeroRoutes has the filed schedules: Seattle – Osaka Kansai starts May 14, 2027, four times weekly. Flights leave Seattle at 12:10 p.m. and arrive at 4 p.m. the next day. The return leaves Osaka at 6 p.m. and arrives in Seattle at 12:20 p.m. the same day. Seattle – Papeete starts June 11, 2027, three times weekly. Flights leave Seattle at 11:55 p.m. and arrive at 7:20 a.m. the next day. The return leaves Tahiti at 5 p.m. and arrives in Seattle at 6 a.m. the following morning. Air Tahiti Nui Already Tried Seattle With Alaska’s Help I covered Air Tahiti Nui’s Seattle launch and Alaska partnership in March 2022. The flight started that October. A week after the announcement, I was writing about business class awards being widely available. By September 2025, I was covering the airline’s financial problems and a study recommending that Seattle be dropped. Its Seattle flying generated a roughly $16 million loss in 2024, which is significant for how little flying was involved at the small airline. Air Tahiti Nui then announced it would suspend the twice-weekly route effective January 31, 2026. So Alaska is returning to a market where its partner couldn’t make the numbers work. And that partner already had Alaska connections. Saying that Alaska can feed the flight with connections doesn’t alone suggest why the route will work. However, Alaska controls the connecting schedules, fares and seat inventory. They keep the combined itinerary’s revenue rather than splitting it with an independent long haul airline, although the connecting flights have costs and seats they could sell to somebody else. They can market the flight directly to their frequent flyers, sell upgrades and make the destination part of the reason customers keep using an Atmos Rewards credit card. Three flights a week offer more choices than two. That can help sell trips, although it also means more seats to fill. Hawaiian already serves Tahiti. Alaska isn’t starting from scratch with a destination it’s never operated to. It’s a good schedule, though. An early arrival gives passengers time to connect to Bora Bora or continue to Moorea, rather than having to spend a night on Tahiti. A late night Seattle departure also leaves plenty of time for arriving domestic connections, and the 6 a.m. return supports onward flights. It’s less attractive for fleet utilization – 9 hours and 40 minutes on the ground in Papeete. Osaka Has A Better Case—Especially With Japan Airlines I’ve been sending readers toward Osaka when Asia awards weren’t available for a long time. Here’s my March 2016 post identifying Los Angeles–Osaka as the route to try for business class seats when other transpacific options were difficult. I’m skeptical of treating Osaka as an obvious premium revenue opportunity. Delta flew Seattle–Osaka before the pandemic. Alaska also gets to add a destination missing from Seattle’s current nonstop network, rather than one with direct competition, but also one that no one is flying now for a reason. The opportunity comes from Alaska’s planned entry into the American Airlines–Japan Airlines joint venture. That would let the airlines share revenue, coordinate pricing, schedules and sales. Japan Airlines would have a financial reason to sell Alaska’s Osaka flight, instead of primarily keeping passengers on its own aircraft through Tokyo or Los Angeles. Japan Airlines brings Japanese customers, corporate relationships and distribution that Alaska can’t recreate on its own, and they could sell more useful itineraries, including trips arriving in Tokyo and returning from Osaka, without caring as much which airline operates the route. Osaka Kansai doesn’t offer Tokyo’s connecting network. Much of Japan Airlines’ domestic Osaka operation is at Osaka Itami. This will be largely about selling trips to and from the Kansai region, with Alaska distributing passengers across its network in Seattle. Where Do The Aircraft Come From? Alaska has scheduled Tokyo Narita to return to a 787 this month, replacing the A330. And Hawaiian has already cut routes, including its seasonal Auckland service. So it’s not clear to me what aircraft is being used here, and whether it’s already been freed up. The bigger product problem is that they’re launching in 2027 with the old cabins. Hawaiian’s A330s have 278 seats, just 18 of them in business class. The seats are fully flat, arranged 2-2-2. I’ve flown and reviewed them. They’re fine for couples, but window passengers don’t have direct aisle access. The small business class cabin limits how many expensive seats Alaska has to sell, which may suit leisure markets but also limits the revenue upside. Hawaiian’s A330s already have free Starlink internet. Where Should Alaska Be Focusing Long Haul Growth? Going for Osaka and Tahiti so early makes me worry for Alaska’s long haul prospects from Seattle – that ‘this is the best they can do’ may mean they’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel. However, it strikes me that there may at least be some better alternatives. Nadi. Another South Pacific vacation destination, but Fiji Airways connections would let Alaska sell onward trips to Australia, New Zealand and other islands as well. On the other hand it could also mean undercutting Alaska’s own ambitions to those destinations. For now, though, many will be destinations without non-stop competition from Seattle (though often itineraries that could be flown one-stop, e.g. via San Francisco or Los Angeles). Manila. There’s a broader market for visiting friends and relatives, plus onward Philippine connections, though Philippine Airlines already flies nonstop from Seattle. It’s also a substantially longer flight than Osaka, and a large passenger market doesn’t guarantee high fares on that route in particular. Sydney. That’s certainly a stronger business premium route and a broader market. It would need a 787 and there aren’t any announced plans or Alaska to join American’s joint venture with Qantas. Madrid. For the European expansion, this would connect Alaska’s hub with Iberia’s hub and provide access beyond Spain. Alaska’s planned entry into the Atlantic joint venture would strengthen this. It would also mean choosing where to deploy its 787s. More flying on existing routes. For instance, moving Seoul from five weekly flights to daily, and keeping a widebody on a profitable Hawaii route could be stronger than a money-losing long haul destination. Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore are easy cities to put on a wish list, but they already have competition. Meanwhile, Hawaiian already operates to both Papeete and Osaka, and both work with A330s making them ‘easy’ next routes to launch rather than the best opportunities Alaska would choose given the option to fly 787s. Still, Alaska has raised its ambition to at least 15 intercontinental destinations from Seattle by 2030. If Tahiti is already near the front of the queue, I’m less confident about the depth of opportunity there. 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