Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to Seoul are taking off
This will be Alaska Airlines' second post-merger long-haul international route.
Alaska Airlines, using Hawaiian Airlines’ Boeing 787-9s, will launch its second international long-haul route, flying between Seattle, the United States, and Seoul, South Korea.
Flightradar24 showed that the flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) will be operated by a Hawaiian Airlines 787-9, registered as N783HA, which landed at SEA following a flight from Honolulu International Airport (HNL) a day prior.
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are still in the process of merging their air operators' certificates (AOCs).
The flight tracking service estimated that flight HA 871 should depart on time at 14:50 local time (UTC -7), arriving the next day at ICN at 18:35 local time (UTC +9).
On September 10, 2025, Alaska Airlines shared that this is not only the airline’s second international long-haul itinerary, but also the group’s first-ever 787-9 international route from SEA, marking the “transformation of our hometown hub in Seattle into the West Coast’s premier global gateway.”
Kirsten Amrine, the Vice President of Revenue Management and Network Planning at Alaska Airlines, highlighted that on both sides of the route, passengers can connect elsewhere, including to “additional Asian destinations with our global partners.”
Other carriers flying between SEA and ICN in September 2025 include Asiana Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Korean Air, according to Cirium’s Diio Mi. Alaska Airlines still lists Korean Air as a partner airline, with the former offering its travelers the opportunity to earn and redeem Atmos points while flying on the latter.
The five-times-per-week itinerary will complement the group’s other international service between SEA and Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT), which launched in May 2025. Cirium’s Diio Mi, compiling the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) data, indicated that during the first few weeks of operations, the SEA to NRT route averaged a load factor of 75.1%, with more than 4,000 passengers boarding the Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330-200s flying the route in May 2025.
In comparison, Japan Airlines, which had daily flights from SEA to NRT in May 2025, averaged a load factor of 92.7%, with more than 5,609 travelers opting for the Japanese carrier’s 787-9 service across the Pacific Ocean.
On January 6, 2026, the 787-9 will take over the SEA-NRT duties from the A330-200, Alaska Airlines said. Currently, its 787-9 aircraft have “34 enclosed Business Class suites with industry-leading lie-flat seats, privacy doors, 18” HD monitors, and wireless charging,” and in 2026, the carrier will begin rolling out Starlink WiFi across its fleet of 787-9s.
Alaska Airlines previously stated that SEA would become a 787 hub with as many as 17 787s across its global network, with a 787 pilot base going online “next spring.” The airline had also confirmed that it converted some of its 787-9 orders to the 787-10, opting for the larger, yet offering less range, 787 family aircraft.
“By 2030, we plan to serve 12 intercontinental destinations from Seattle. We currently have four Dreamliners in the fleet.”
In addition to NRT and ICN, Alaska Airlines has also unveiled London Heathrow Airport (LHR), Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport (KEF), and Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) as its other intercontinental destinations. The latter two are starting in May 2026, while flights to LHR should also start sometime in spring 2026.
Rytis Beresnevicius
Alaska Airlines’ long-haul ambitions from SEA have not gone unnoticed. Delta Air Lines, another major carrier at the airport, announced its own international long-haul expansion, with services to Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN) and FCO starting in spring 2026.
Cirium’s Diio Mi indicated that the pair of flights should begin on May 7 and May 6, 2026, with Delta Air Lines scheduling four and three weekly departures on the two routes, respectively. In addition to the newly added destinations, the carrier has also scheduled flights to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS), Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), and LHR in May 2026, according to Cirium’s Diio.
