In a highly intriguing development, Alaska Airlines has revealed two new long routes from the Western US to Hawaii. It’ll begin flying from both Boise Airport (BOI) and Spokane International Airport (GEG) to Honolulu International Airport (HNL). They are bound to make the weekly celebratory new routes article (see last week’s edition).
Both airport pairs previously had nonstop flights in 2013 and 2014. They were in the hands of the ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, which flew Boeing 757s from the Western US to Hawaii. This experiment did not last long.
As identified by Ishrion Aviation on X, the oneworld member will serve this route daily from December 17. A daily offering from the get-go is very bullish and surprising. While completely different models, and therefore a like-for-like comparison is not fair, Cirium Diio data shows that Allegiant Air flew weekly.
Covering 2,464 nautical miles (4,568 km) each way, Alaska’s maximum block time will be exactly seven hours, five hours or so short of being included in the airline’s top ten longest routes list. Now bookable, the full schedule for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 route is shown below. Flights will operate during the day in both directions.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that 41,045 round-trip passengers flew between BOI and HNL in the 12 months to March 2026. It was BOI’s fourth-largest unserved market, after Orlando (78,369), Austin (48,017), and Nashville (45,673). Most people flew Alaska HNL (34%), obviously primarily via Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Portland International Airport (PDX).
Alaska will not just rely on the local market, which will certainly grow from nonstop flights and hopefully good promotions. New routes usually rely on demand stimulation. It’ll also capture some of the wider BOI-Hawaii market, which had 119,955 passengers in the examined period. For example, BOI-Kahului had 32,919 passengers, Lihue had 23,217, and Kona had 21,679.
On December 19, Alaska will take off from GEG to HNL. This will be the carrier’s third airport in Washington State with flights to Hawaii, joining those from SEA and Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE). This will be the first time that Alaska has had flights from three airports in the Evergreen State to the Aloha State. While it previously flew from Bellingham until 2019, this was four years before services from PAE began.
Unlike BOI, Alaska will only fly GEG-HNL weekly. Interestingly, the airline’s website shows that the 737-900ER, rather than the 737 MAX 8, will be deployed. At 2,503 nautical miles (4,637 km) each way, it’ll become the variant’s new second-longest nonstop offering, behind San Francisco to Liberia. However, despite the maximum block time exceeding seven hours, it’ll only be Alaska’s fifth-longest 737-900ER link in this sense.
* Obviously, a different aircraft will be used
Between April 2025 and March 2026, the DOT shows that GEG-HNL had 41,234 round-trip passengers. Oddly, that was virtually identical to BOI-HNL, although the geographic position of GEG and Alaska’s dominance there meant it had a higher market share (39%). It was GEG’s fourth-largest unserved market, after Orlando (56,587), Ontario (48,503), and Nashville (43,004). 116,552 passengers flew between GEG and Hawaii.
See which notable examples made the list this week!
The DOT indicates that Allegiant flew BOI-GEG between February 2013 and March 2014. The carrier transported 16,185 round-trip passengers and filled 84.7% of the available seats. GEG-HNL was similar: February 2013 to April 2014, 16,079 passengers, and an 82.4% load factor. Given Allegiant’s ULCC nature, the average base fares (excluding taxes and add-ons) were predictably low, at around $155 each way ($219 in today’s money). Passengers who flew indirectly with other airlines on these airport pairs paid 43% more.
Between 2012 and 2017, when Allegiant’s final 757 was retired, the airline flew from 12 places in the Lower 48 to HNL: Bellingham, BOI, Eugene, Fresno, GEG, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix Mesa, PDX, Santa Maria, SEA, and Stockton. 777,529 passengers were transported. Between 2012 and 2014, it also flew from Bellingham to Kahului (47,871 passengers).
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