Alaska & Hawaiian Launching Seattle To Seoul Incheon Flights

It’s an exciting time for Alaska Air Group, following the company’s takeover of Hawaiian Airlines. We’re seeing the airline totally shift its strategy, including turning Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) into a global hub, with the goal of having 12 long haul destinations by 2030.

The first destination will be Tokyo Narita (NRT), with that service launching as of May 2025. Now the second route has just been put on sale, to Seoul Incheon, with that service starting as of September 2025.

Alaska Air Group’s new Seattle to Seoul Incheon route

As of September 12, 2025, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines will launch 5x weekly, year-round, nonstop flights between Seattle (SEA) and Seoul Incheon (ICN). The 5,216-mile flight will operate with the following schedule:

HA871 Seattle to Seoul Incheon departing 3:25PM arriving 6:50PM (+1 day)
HA872 Seoul Incheon to Seattle departing 8:50PM arriving 3:00PM

The westbound flight is blocked at 11hr25min and will operate every day except Mondays and Tuesdays, while the eastbound flight is blocked and 10hr10min eastbound and will operate every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Hawaiian Airlines will use an Airbus A330-200 for the route, featuring 278 seats, comprised of 18 business class seats and 260 economy class seats.

As a reminder, Hawaiian’s business class is in a 2-2-2 configuration, so that’s not terribly competitive nowadays. Alaska Air Group does plan to update the interiors of its A330s to be more competitive, but there’s no timeline for that yet. Meanwhile economy is quite comfortable, given the 2-4-2 layout, as many people like the pair of seats by the windows.

The timing of the route launching is no coincidence, as it will start right before Chuseok, also known as Korean Thanksgiving Day, which is one of the most important and festive holidays in the country. With it taking place in early October this year, the flight is well timed.

Note that currently, Hawaiian operates 5x weekly flights to Seoul Incheon from Honolulu (HNL). As of now that flight continues to be on sale, though it sure seems like that might be cut. That flight is also 5x weekly, with a similar schedule, and getting slots at Seoul Incheon can be challenging. So it could be that Seattle replaces Honolulu, as we’ve seen with the new Tokyo Narita route.

With Alaska and Hawaiian still being on separate operating certificates, there’s understandably some confusion about how exactly service like this works:

• The flight will be operated by Hawaiian crews, since the work groups of the two carriers are still separate
• The flight is bookable through the websites of Alaska or Hawaiian, whether paying cash or redeeming miles
• The plan is only for Hawaiian to join the oneworld alliance as of 2026, so as of now you couldn’t earn or redeem most other oneworld miles for these flights, or take advantage of oneworld Emerald or oneworld Sapphire elite perks
• I’m curious what the soft product will be like on this flight; will it be the typical Hawaiian soft product, or will this receive more of an Alaska service?

My take on Alaska Air Group’s new Seattle to Seoul Incheon route

I’m delighted to see Alaska and Hawaiian introducing long haul service out of Seattle, and giving Delta some much needed competition in long haul markets. Alaska has an incredible West Coast hub with a huge amount of connectivity, and a loyal customer base in the Pacific Northwest.

One thing to keep in mind is that even though Alaska is in oneworld, the airline has a partnership with Korean Air, which should provide feed beyond Seoul Incheon, and help fill planes. So just as Alaska will rely on Japan Airlines to fill planes in Tokyo Narita, I imagine Korean Air could help in Seoul Incheon. Quite honestly, I’m a bit surprised that Alaska and Korean Air continue to partner, given the extent to which Alaska and Delta are competing.

That being said, there’s no denying that the airline faces an uphill battle on this Seoul Incheon route, especially initially. This is a very strong market for Delta and its partners, as it’s served by Delta, Korean Air, and Asiana (which is now owned by Korean Air, but still operating separately, for the time being). Furthermore, until these Hawaiian A330s are reconfigured, the hard product is quite uncompetitive, especially when you consider that Alaska will be competing against established airlines.

In the long run, I think Alaska’s strategy will work well. The airline needs to build up its long haul presence in Seattle and reconfigure A330s, and over time, I think Alaska could be the dominant long haul carrier at the airport.

Bottom line

As of September 2025, Alaska Air Group will launch 5x weekly nonstop flights between Seattle and Seoul Incheon, using Hawaiian Airbus A330s. This will be the second of a dozen long haul routes that Alaska Air Group launches out of Seattle by 2030, with the first being to Tokyo Narita.

Alaska definitely has an uphill battle with its long haul expansion, given the rather uncompetitive business class product, plus establishing itself in long haul markets. But in the long run, I’m sure this will work out well, especially with Alaska’s loyal customer base.

What do you make of the new Alaska & Hawaiian Seattle to Seoul Incheon route?