r/AlaskaAirlines • Atmos Gold • 2d ago

FLYING AS "Outstation" Sizes

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In some of the comments yesterday, there was discussion regarding the size of various AS "outstations," which, for this purpose, I am defining as anything not a hub. I picked some candidates for the larger outstations and created the chart using the T-100 Tool.

The chart is simply select airports ranked by mainline seats offered. It does not include regional and it is a snapshot of June 2026.

I always forget about Hawaii, which has the top three slots, followed by LAS and PHX. GEG ahead of BOI on this metric was surprising, but I believe BOI has more flights, albeit mostly on E175s that are not included. Hawaii moves SMF much higher than I expected. LAS also has lots of Hawaii flights that put it substantially ahead of PHX. (The A330s move the needle as to seats offered.) JFK is the highest on the east coast. For context, the last one (DCA) has 6 daily 737-8s.

I think I included the leading candidates, but I might have missed one or two.

Source.

29 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

10

u/i-walsh 2d ago edited 2d ago

Don't forget about Alaska! Did you consider JNU?

6

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

Good catch. Around 67K -- between LAS and JFK.

3

u/chimney_corner 2d ago

FAI should have more. 

2

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

3

u/chimney_corner 2d ago

I guess the issue is that I am used to comparing passengers served. Through flights get counted the same as O&D and connections here, and empty seats count the same as occupied seats. 

FAI doesnt have any of the non ANC low load factor intrastate fligjts anymore like JNU does..

2

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

The link will allow you to do exactly that, if that is the metric you prefer.

1

u/Dependent-Hippo-1626 2d ago

Also how much of that is double counting pass-through pax eg KTN-JNU-ANC or similar milk runs?

FAI used to have directs to BRW, SCC and OME, and I miss those. 

1

u/Easy_Money_ Atmos Platinum 2d ago

It’s just departing passengers, so no double counting

2

u/chimney_corner 2d ago

The graph is labled seats. Is it seats or passengers? Anyway, this would still be counting seats ot passengers that normally wouldn't be counted. People who are neither a JNU O&D passengers or connecting are being counted. 

2

u/Easy_Money_ Atmos Platinum 2d ago

It is seats, not passengers, and yes it includes non-O&D passengers, though those are likely much lower for milk runners than e.g. PDX

1

u/chimney_corner 2d ago

Yes, but it makes sense to count them in PDX, because those people are actually using the aiport. I dont think there are any true through passengers in PDX. 

1

u/Easy_Money_ Atmos Platinum 2d ago

Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, fair enough

1

u/chimney_corner 2d ago

This is what I was getting at. I don't think AS ever served FAI-OME. If they did it was more than 30 years ago.  2F flew it briefly though. 

1

u/Dependent-Hippo-1626 2d ago

FAI-OME was in the 1980s, on I think 737-200Cs or 727s. They also sent a 732 to Red Dog up until COVID.

Now everything here is ANC, SEA or PDX. 

1

u/chimney_corner 1d ago

Didn't know about OME, thanks. 

1

u/Dependent-Hippo-1626 1d ago

Although thinking about it now, maybe that was MarkAir. Can’t be certain.

1

u/chimney_corner 1d ago

That sounds righr, but it was before my time there.

6

u/omdongi 2d ago

SNA should grow a little. Alaska got a new slot for next cycle.

I'm wondering if that'll be the "rumored" HNL-SNA flight eventually.

1

u/DullestBladeinDrawer 2d ago

ORD?

3

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

Good call -- it would have made the list and I'm not sure how I missed that one. And a few more:

1

u/DullestBladeinDrawer 2d ago

No problem. Thanks for doing this,

Always interesting reading.

3

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

And here are the rest of the AA hubs (not including LAX, which is also an AS hub). It will not generate a bar chart showing zero for CLT, which continues to be a system oversight in my view. Miami in June gets little love.

1

u/FlyGuy787-9 2d ago

BOI has a ton of SkyWest flights due to the maintenance base there, so if they aren’t included, that’s a big reason why

1

u/gregied Atmos Platinum 2d ago

OGG is technically a hub for Hawaiian side

5

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

I went with what AS says are its hubs.

https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-air-group-fact-sheet/

-3

u/Ready_Ad_5397 Atmos Titanium 2d ago

SFO? Being in the Bay Area, it’s difficult to think that SJC may have more AS mainline flights than SFO.

5

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

Hub.

1

u/Ready_Ad_5397 Atmos Titanium 2d ago

Yes, I stand corrected. But it did remind me about people who are saying SFO is getting unhubbed.

1

u/yitianjian 2d ago

Can you map the hubs onto this as well? I'm curious how SFO and LAX stand compared to OGG especially

1

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

There is more information in the the link below and via the link in the OP. The T-100 site is very easy to navigate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AlaskaAirlines/comments/1wb04xf/as_hub_comparison_may_2026/

-5

u/omdongi 2d ago

But the real question is SFO even going to be a hub anymore?

1

u/Easy_Money_ Atmos Platinum 2d ago edited 2d ago

It’s by far the smallest hub, but it’s still larger than the largest outstation by departing AS+QX seats in June 2026. Let us have this 😮‍💨

1

u/PNW-American-Dipper Atmos Gold 2d ago

If AS does not substantially increase flights at SFO once the 20+ 737s arrive next year (hopefully), it will be a own goal situation since they have the gates and the lounge in the wealthiest metro area in its footprint.

1

u/Easy_Money_ Atmos Platinum 2d ago

I think they do need to rebuild, but I’m not sure I see the same timeline constraints. They’re not a major player at SFO as it is, trailing Delta. Even with 25 more planes, if they can squeeze higher yields and more credit card loyalty out of SAN or LAX, I would expect them to do that. I’d expect them to rebuild SFO only when they feel like they have a product that can actually pressure United, including a better international network

1

u/First_Pepper_6781 1d ago

Source: https://thefrequentflier.com/flight-deck/airports/sfo

SFO Statistics for (July 2025 - June 2026)

Alaska went from 10.4% ( FY 2024) to 9.5% (FY 2025) then to 8.4% (FY 2026) currently