Alaska Airlines Opens Seattle to Heathrow Airport Daily Service
Alaska Airlines began flying daily from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to heathrow airport on May 21, opening its first-ever service to London and the UK. The route uses a Boeing 787-9 and covers 4,171 nautical miles each way.
The new service gives travelers one more nonstop option on a market that already had British Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic. After Alaska Airlines entered, the number of daily services rose to five.
Seattle-Tacoma to London
Alaska Airlines announced the route last year, and the flights were available to book in December. The airline’s Seattle-to-London Heathrow service is its second European route, after Seattle to Rome on April 28, and before its Iceland link begins on May 28.
The Heathrow flight is the airline’s debut in the UK and Northern Europe. Alaska Airlines is using slots leased from American Airlines at London Heathrow after its own application for slots from the usual pool was turned down entirely.
Boeing 787-9 cabin
The route is operated with Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 fleet. The aircraft on the service have 300 seats, including 34 fully flat business-class seats in a 1-2-1 layout and 266 economy seats in a 3-3-3 layout.
Alaska Airlines has five Boeing 787-9 aircraft according to ch-aviation. The airplane type also includes 31-inch pitch in economy.
Seattle-London demand
Booking data for the 12 months to February 2026 showed 285,000 round-trip passengers flew between Seattle and London without traveling elsewhere. That made the city pair the US's 12th-busiest city pair to the UK capital based on local passengers, and around 82% of travelers on the market did not connect to another flight en route.
The US Department of Transportation said 533,210 passengers flew between Seattle and London Heathrow in the same period, with 248,000 connecting to another flight at either or both ends of the airport pair. Around 51,000 passengers transited en route to or from Heathrow, primarily in Keflavik with Icelandair, which leaves Alaska’s new daily service entering an already busy route with established nonstop and connecting options.
