BOZEMAN, MT (February 11,
2021). After three decades of developing the BZN-SEA market, and a slight
delay due to COVID-19 related schedule changes, the first ever mainline Alaska
Airlines service in Montana operated today between Bozeman Yellowstone International
Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Alaska will operate one of
their four daily flights from BZN to SEA with mainline Airbus aircraft. The
three additional daily departures to SEA and Alaska’s daily departures to
Portland, Oregon will continue to operate with a combination of 76-seat Q400 aircraft and Embraer 175 aircraft operated
by Alaska Airline’s regional affiliate Horizon Air. Alaska's new daily service to Los Angeles (LAX), that began Nov. 20, 2020, operates with an Embraer 175 aircraft.
Horizon Air began service
to Bozeman Yellowstone Int’l Airport (BZN) with 19-passenger Swearingen Metro
aircraft in 1990 with service to Spokane and Billings. In 1994, Horizon Air
began the airline’s first non-stop service from Montana to Seattle/Tacoma (SEA)
using 69-seat Fokker F28 aircraft with seasonal service between BZN and
SEA. Over the next several years, Horizon continued to develop non-stop
service from all of their Montana markets to SEA. Horizon began replacing
the F28 aircraft with the new and efficient 76-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft in
2001 between BZN and SEA. In 2016, the Q400s were augmented with 76-seat
Embraer 175 aircraft.