Good: Alaska Upgrades Seattle To Seoul Incheon Flights To Boeing 787

It’s an exciting time for Alaska Air Group, following the company’s takeover of Hawaiian Airlines. We’re seeing the airline totally shift its strategy, including turning Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) into a global hub, with the goal of having 12 long haul destinations by 2030.

The airline has just revealed an exciting update for its second Seattle long haul route.

Alaska upgrades Seoul Incheon flight from A330 to 787

In May 2025, we saw Alaska & Hawaiian launch daily flights between Seattle and Tokyo Narita (NRT). Then as of September 2025, we’ll see Alaska & Hawaiian launch 5x weekly flights between Seattle and Seoul Incheon (ICN).

Up until now, the plan has been for both of these initial flights to be operated by the Airbus A330, which has historically been Hawaiian’s primary long haul aircraft. However, Hawaiian is also slowly taking delivery of Boeing 787s, which feature a much improved onboard product.

Along those lines, there’s an exciting update, as flagged by @IshrionA. Alaska & Hawaiian now plan to launch the Seoul Incheon flights with the Boeing 787, rather than with the Airbus A330.

As of now, there are no plans for the Tokyo Narita route to be operated by the 787. We do know Alaska’s third long haul route from Seattle will be 4x weekly flights to Rome (FCO) as of May 2026, and that will also be operated by the 787.

For the time being, Alaska and Hawaiian continue to remain on separate operating certificates, so these flights are still Hawaiian branded. However, by 2026, that should change. For example, Alaska’s route to Rome will be the first Seattle route to not be Hawaiian marketed. The plan is eventually for all 787s to get Alaska branding.

Alaska needs to figure out its long haul fleet, stat

I think Alaska will have pretty good luck becoming a long haul competitor out of Seattle, given its huge connecting network, plus very loyal following in the Pacific Northwest.

Admittedly the airline also has an uphill battle — it faces lots of existing competition out of Seattle (including from Delta), it doesn’t belong to any long haul joint ventures (at least not yet), and it doesn’t necessarily have much name recognition outside the United States.

For premium cabin customers, the problem is also the onboard product. Hawaiian’s A330s are being used for the first Seattle long haul route, and while these cabins are perfectly nice leisure oriented flights to Hawaii, the product is much less competitive for longer flights out of Seattle.

Alaska has committed to upgrading the interiors of these A330s, though nothing has been announced beyond that, and we haven’t seen any official timeline. If you ask me, upgrades are needed ASAP. In terms of reputation and perception, I think the current interiors can also do damage.

Let’s say a business travel decides to fly Alaska from Seattle to Tokyo Narita, only to end up in a 2-2-2 product. Odds are that they might just take Alaska off their list of airlines to consider for long haul flights in the future.

By comparison, the 787 has a much better onboard product, with business class suites with doors. Hawaiian actually beat American and United to the punch with this, as all three airlines are introducing the same general product. The one issue with the 787s is that they don’t have Wi-Fi. While Hawaiian has installed Starlink Wi-Fi on its A330s, it hasn’t yet been installed on 787s.

So yeah, I hope Alaska comes up with a plan soon to retrofit and upgrade A330s, and also to install Wi-Fi on 787s. With the very slow pace at which the airline group is getting 787s, more long haul routes will invariably have to be operated by the A330. A competitive onboard experience is more important than ever before, given how many airlines have upped their product.

Bottom line

Alaska is upgrading its new route from Seattle to Seoul Incheon from an Airbus A330 to a Boeing 787. This is great news in terms of passenger experience, since the 787s have a much better onboard product, especially in premium cabins. The only catch is the lack of Wi-Fi, at least as of now.

I’m happy to see Alaska focusing on putting its 787s on long haul routes out of Seattle, where they’re most needed.

What do you make of Alaska upgrading its Seoul Incheon route to the 787?