Southwest goes on the offensive against Alaska Airlines in California
Almost all of Southwest Airlines' new flights from California are to Alaska Airlines' hubs in the PNW and Hawaii.
Southwest Airlines has unveiled a bunch of routes from California, which will begin during the upcoming summer 2026 season, with new or additional itineraries from Burbank, Ontario, Long Beach, and San Diego, some of which overlap with Alaska Airlines’ planned flights from these airports.
On November 25, 2026, Southwest Airlines announced new flights and additional frequencies from Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Ontario International Airport (ONT), Long Beach Airport (LGB), and San Diego International Airport (SAN).
With two exceptions, all of the new flights are routed toward Alaska Airlines hubs, including Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Portland International Airport (PDX), and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).
That does not mean that the two will not compete on the two other routes.
From BUR and ONT, Southwest Airlines is launching flights to HNL on August 6, 2026, and June 4, 2026, respectively. Flights between BUR and HNL are scheduled on what the airline said were “peak days,” while frequencies between ONT and HNL will be daily.
According to Cirium’s Diio Mi, Alaska Airlines currently has scheduled seasonal BUR-HNL and year-round HNL-ONT services, including during the upcoming summer 2026 season. Both routes are scheduled to be flown daily.
The airline only announced its BUR-HNL service on October 27, highlighting that the route will result in the two airports being connected with a direct flight for the first time in 20 years.
At the time, Kirsten Amrine, the Vice President of Revenue Management and Network Planning at Alaska Airlines, said that with its expansion in SAN, PDX, and with new flights to Hawaii, the airline is “redefining what it means to connect guests to a remarkable travel experience rooted in safety, care, and performance.”
“San Diego continues to be one of our fastest-growing hubs, while Portland and Hawai‘i are essential parts of our global network.”
But Southwest Airlines is not done there. From LGB, it will launch six weekly flights to PDX and SEA on August 4, 2026, with the airline having briefly flown from LGB to the former between October 2023 and September 2024, per Cirium’s Diio Mi.
According to the company, which compiled data from the Department of Transportation (DOT), Southwest Airlines’ load factors on flights between LGB and PDX were, well, not very good. During the October 2023 to September 2024 period, the airline’s average load factors on the route were 64.95%, with load factors climbing above 70% in June 2024.
While load factors continued to be above 70%, and even more in July 2024 (77.83%), August 2024 (77.52%), and September 2024 (76.81%), Southwest Airlines ultimately dropped the itinerary from its network.
Both SEA and PDX are major hubs for Alaska Airlines, yet it does not fly to LGB from either of the airports. Instead, it flies to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and has scheduled quite an impressive 77 weekly flights from LAX to SEA and 49 weekly departures to PDX.
Besides LAX, Alaska Airlines serves one of Los Angeles County’s other commercial airports, BUR, from PDX and SEA, with 21 and 35 weekly flights in August 2026, respectively.
Another direct battle between the two will play out at SAN. Southwest Airlines is launching daily flights from SAN to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) on August 4, 2026, while Alaska Airlines, in the same announcement on October 27, also unveiled double-daily flights between SAN and SBA, starting in April 2026. The latter will fly the route with SkyWest Airlines’ Embraer E175s.
Southwest Airlines is also going from daily to double-daily on flights from SAN to PDX, Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), and SEA from August 4, 2026. All three routes are operated by Alaska Airlines, with current schedules showing that in August 2026, the airline has scheduled five, 10, and three daily flights from SAN to PDX, SEA, and SLC.
According to Adam Decaire, the Senior Vice President of Network Planning and Network Operations Control at Southwest Airlines, new facilities at SAN and BUR, as well as the airline’s passenger experience enhancements, have positioned Southwest Airlines “to continue offering more for Customers in Southern California and beyond for many years to come.”
In August 2025, Southwest Airlines was the number one airline in terms of weekly departing seats (104,307), with Alaska Airlines the second largest carrier at the airport with 60,476 weekly departing seats.
By November, Southwest Airlines expanded its weekly departing seats from SAN to 121,484, while Alaska Airlines’ departing seats per week grew to 67,532. However, during the month, the two airlines had 14 overlapping routes, displayed below.
That number will only grow with the launch of the new routes in August 2026.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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