Alaska Airlines Plans Larger Jets, San Jose Return for Everett's Paine Field

SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines (AS) plans to increase seats at Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) in Everett by 50% between this fall and summer 2027, and to restore a San Jose route it flew when the airport's passenger terminal opened in 2019.

Alaska announced the Paine Field plan on September 24. Twice-daily nonstop flights to San José Mineta International Airport (SJC) begin April 14, 2027, operated by sister carrier Horizon Air with Embraer 175s. Tickets are on sale. San Jose was one of eight West Coast cities on Alaska's original Paine Field schedule in March 2019.

The release also says Los Angeles (LAX) will grow to two daily flights, both on "larger Alaska Boeing 737 aircraft," and that Portland (PDX) will move to two daily flights. Alaska will add seats to San Diego (SAN) and San Francisco (SFO) as well.

Only the San Jose launch carries a date. The release says the growth begins this fall but gives no dates for the Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, and San Francisco changes. It also does not state the baseline behind the 50% figure, name the Boeing 737 variant for Los Angeles, or say whether the San Diego and San Francisco additions come from extra flights, larger aircraft, or both.

How larger aircraft add seats

Horizon's Embraer 175s seat 76 passengers, while Alaska's passenger 737s seat between 124 and 178, according to Alaska's published fleet data. Each Paine Field departure moved from an E175 to a 737 gains between 48 and 102 seats. When Airways reported Alaska's Paine Field–Honolulu plans in 2023, most flights from the airport were operated by Horizon E175s, while Las Vegas and Phoenix had moved to mainline 737s in 2022.

Frequency is the other lever. Snohomish County says the passenger terminal can accommodate 24 departures a day. The airport offered as many as 24 in its first year, mostly on Alaska, but was down to as few as 10 daily departures by May 2025, The Daily Herald reported. The San Jose flights and the second daily Los Angeles and Portland frequencies would add four daily departures, before any frequency change to San Diego or San Francisco.

Paine Field's traffic since 2019

Propeller Airports built the passenger terminal and operates it under a lease from Snohomish County, which owns the airport. The terminal handled more than 1 million passengers in 2019, its first year of airline service, but traffic fell to 580,000 passengers in 2024, according to Propeller statistics cited by the Herald.

United Airlines (UA) withdrew from Paine Field during the pandemic, according to the Herald. Frontier Airlines (F9) started flights to Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix in June 2025 and ended its Paine Field operations in January 2026. A Frontier spokesperson told the Herald that passenger demand "wasn't sufficient to maintain the service." Alaska is now the only airline at Paine Field.

Alaska's own Everett schedule also contracted. The carrier dropped Portland in May 2022, Propeller CEO Brett Smith told the Herald. The paper also reported that Honolulu flights, launched in November 2023, became seasonal in early 2024. Propeller announced in December 2025 that daily Portland flights would return in June 2026, and the terminal's destination list again includes Portland.

Paine Field's role next to Seattle-Tacoma

Alaska's main hub is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), south of Everett. In May 2025, Smith told the Herald that Alaska had chosen to concentrate its resources at SEA.

Alaska's release describes Paine Field as complementing that hub. "Paine Field is an important part of our Puget Sound network, giving guests a simpler, more convenient way to access Alaska's West Coast flying," Andrew Harrison, Alaska's executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said in the release.

Whether the terminal grows depends on traffic. Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers signed an executive order in May 2025 directing county departments to begin planning road, runway, and other improvements for a long-range expansion aimed at a larger terminal and more air service. Propeller, however, decides whether and when the terminal itself expands. Smith told the Herald at the time that an expansion would depend on vastly improved passenger numbers. "We have to have the business to do it," he said.