Welcome to the Washington State Aviation Thread 2020. Please continue your discussion and to post your updates here.

Link to previous thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1411833

Happy New Year (and decade), everyone! To kick this off, I thought it might be good to recap some of the things we were talking about in last year's thread in order to spark some discussion.

-Talks going on with a SEA replacement/reliever: Olympia, JBLM, Bremerton?
-New IAF scheduled to open this year, in September IIRC. Any timeline as to when the overhead bridge will be installed?
-Port of Seattle is making plans for a new terminal or extension at SEA, either as a separate terminal like DTW North Terminal or MSP T2, or a simple extension of D. Would the former work better for non-DL/AS airlines that don't have significant onward connections (and should it have a customs facility?), or would the latter be better so that light rail/ground transportation/etc won't have to change?
-Performance of PAE flights: AS is suspending PAE-PSP for the winter and UA is switching 2 of their 3 SFO flights to CR2s starting in April, but other than that, things have been rather quiet. Even though the current facilities haven't been open for long, is there a possibility of an eventual expansion, or is space/NIMBY trouble too much to handle?
-BR is switching their daily SEA-TPE to a 789 next May whilst keeping the additional 4 weekly flight on a 77W. Are they feeling the pressure from CX and SQ?
-NH is switching their SEA-NRT flight to HND in late March. Any thoughts as to what this will mean for JAL, being the only carrier left at NRT?
-SQ is increasing SEA-SIN to 5x weekly in late March. Any possibility of going daily eventually, and could this (along with the HK protests) be detrimental in the long run to CX?
-DL is switching from PEK to PKX and NRT to HND in March , with equipment staying the same for PKX until winter when it tentatively moves to A339, and HND will be on A359 for summer and A339 for winter. I feel confident about SEA-HND doing well, but with some saying that PKX is lower-yielding than PEK, can DL manage to keep the route afloat?
-Both LH and Condor added SEA-MUC seasonally for next summer. Should be interesting to see how both carriers do, and if they'll both be successful!
-On the domestic side, AS has been pumping in a bunch of capacity for next summer, increasing BOS to 4x daily, IAD/MCI to 3x, CMH/IND/MKE/PIT/RDU/TPA/OMA/SBA to 2x, and adding mainline to FAT/BZN/BIL/MSO. This is likely a combination of reallocating CA resources from cut routes there to SEA and trying to increase flights to keep gate space, and as much as I enjoy seeing SEA grow, is this sustainable long-term?

Also...
-EI goes daily on the SEA-DUB route.
-AC initiates SEA-YUL service with their new A220-300.
-VS starts another 3X weekly flight between SEA-LHR, in addition to their daily flight.

What else?

717atOGG wrote:

-Talks going on with a SEA replacement/reliever: Olympia, JBLM, Bremerton?
-New IAF scheduled to open this year, in September IIRC. Any timeline as to when the overhead bridge will be installed?
-Port of Seattle is making plans for a new terminal or extension at SEA, either as a separate terminal like DTW North Terminal or MSP T2, or a simple extension of D. Would the former work better for non-DL/AS airlines that don't have significant onward connections (and should it have a customs facility?), or would the latter be better so that light rail/ground transportation/etc won't have to change?

There is less need for UA to offer connections onto NH SEA-TYO flights due to UA or NH already serving TYO nonstop from all of UA's hubs. On the other hand, UA might still need to be able to connect passengers onto OZ SEA-ICN, BR SEA-TPE, and SQ SEA-SIN nonstop flights as there are a few UA hub airports that don't have nonstop service to ICN, TPE, and SIN on UA, OZ, BR, or SQ.

If UA is relocated to a new concourse or a new terminal at SEA, access to the gates used by OZ, BR, and SQ from the UA gates is likely needed due to connections onto OZ, BR, and SQ flights from UA flights. There is also likely a need to get passengers who are connecting onto UA flights out of SEA from OZ, BR, and SQ flights to the UA gates from the international arrivals facility used by arriving OZ, BR, and SQ flights in the event that UA is relocated to a new concourse or new terminal at SEA.

There still needs to be access between the AA gates and AS gates at SEA if AA is relocated at SEA due to AA and AS still connecting some passengers between AA and AS flights at SEA. AA also still needs to be able to connect passengers onto JL SEA-TYO nonstop flights from AA hubs that don't have nonstop service to TYO such as PHX, PHL, CLT, and MIA.

It does make sense to relocate airlines such as F9, NK, WN, and SY who do not need to connect passengers onto other airlines at SEA to a separate terminal or separate concourse at SEA.

wedgetail737 wrote:

Also...
-EI goes daily on the SEA-DUB route.
-AC initiates SEA-YUL service with their new A220-300.
-VS starts another 3X weekly flight between SEA-LHR, in addition to their daily flight.

What else?

Additionally, BA is switching the 747-400 LHR-SEA flight to a 787-10 starting in July, which is probably a combination of downgauging due to their new PDX-LHR flight and responding to VS' increase to 1.5 daily. Hopefully the 78X sticks around through the winter, since it has a much more competitive hard product than the 77E (pre-retrofit), and is more interesting from a spotter's perspective.

I believe BR is bring back the 4x weekly flight- I'm on my phone, otherwise I'd check, but I think it's daily or 8x weekly now. So if anything, they're laying on the pressure.

CX is the carrier I'm worried about. They're 3-4x weekly (more often 3x than not) up to June as of last check in mid December. Hopefully the situation in HK doesn't kill the route.

Also, I believe LH's MUC flight is year round, not seasonal. Sad to see BA remove the 747. Hopefully we see a return of it next year.

Pasco PSC is getting an ORD redeye in the Summer, also getting 3x daily SFO in Summer. Big year for growth.

717atOGG wrote:

-Performance of PAE flights: AS is suspending PAE-PSP for the winter and UA is switching 2 of their 3 SFO flights to CR2s starting in April, but other than that, things have been rather quiet. Even though the current facilities haven't been open for long, is there a possibility of an eventual expansion, or is space/NIMBY trouble too much to handle?

They are suspending PAE-PSP for the summer, not the winter. They're going to add a 2nd daily PAE-SNA in the summer instead. Makes sense with all the Disneyland traffic.

BR is increasing from (10 weekly 77w) to (7 weekly 789 + 5 weekly 77w). So in total still capacity increase.

717 - nice summary, and makes a good first post for 2020.

Only mostly off topic: Kitsap County continues to slowly grow its mosquito fleet, but with fast passenger ferries. Third route to Seattle sometime later this year. Bremerton likely will get a second boat too. One of the new boats is hybrid electric. The state is currently building one large car hybrid electric ferry. Nice discussion of how the northwest has become a center of excellence for hybrid catamaran fast ferries.

https://www.nwyachting.com/2019/03/kits ... rry-first/

MaxTrimm wrote:

Pasco PSC is getting an ORD redeye in the Summer, also getting 3x daily SFO in Summer. Big year for growth.

Correct...I'm pretty sure that it will be daily, year-round service, with the E175, and will be the longest nonstop from PSC once it begins. Losing the LAX flight was somewhat surprising since it was only on for 6 months, but I think it's only a matter of time before either DL starts it, or Allegiant decides to go daily year-round.

PSC is a great airport that is growing fast. UA and DL are the ones growing there, and Allegiant is flying A320 aircraft now. Only AS is stuck in the past with turboprops to SEA, yet they have by far the nicest gate area at PSC. AS seems to have no interest in expanding its route offerings from PSC.

DeltaPSCFlyer wrote:

MaxTrimm wrote:

Pasco PSC is getting an ORD redeye in the Summer, also getting 3x daily SFO in Summer. Big year for growth.

Correct...I'm pretty sure that it will be daily, year-round service, with the E175, and will be the longest nonstop from PSC once it begins. Losing the LAX flight was somewhat surprising since it was only on for 6 months, but I think it's only a matter of time before either DL starts it, or Allegiant decides to go daily year-round.

PSC is a great airport that is growing fast. UA and DL are the ones growing there, and Allegiant is flying A320 aircraft now. Only AS is stuck in the past with turboprops to SEA, yet they have by far the nicest gate area at PSC. AS seems to have no interest in expanding its route offerings from PSC.

Correct. However, I have seen occasional E175’s on QX from SEA on the morning flight. One of these days, the Q400’s will go and it will all be E175’s to SEA. Even in the summer it’s E175’s to DEN on UA. Inching closer to mainline almost everywhere!

tespai wrote:

I believe BR is bring back the 4x weekly flight- I'm on my phone, otherwise I'd check, but I think it's daily or 8x weekly now. So if anything, they're laying on the pressure.

CX is the carrier I'm worried about. They're 3-4x weekly (more often 3x than not) up to June as of last check in mid December. Hopefully the situation in HK doesn't kill the route.

Also, I believe LH's MUC flight is year round, not seasonal. Sad to see BA remove the 747. Hopefully we see a return of it next year.

I don't remember if it was specified as year-round or seasonal when it was announced, but it's not showing up for booking past the end of the IATA 2020 summer schedule, so I'd guess that it's more likely than not going to be seasonal. Kind of surprising that a route like SEA-DUB can work year-round and MUC can't, but I suppose that LH knows best.

BA wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

-Performance of PAE flights: AS is suspending PAE-PSP for the winter and UA is switching 2 of their 3 SFO flights to CR2s starting in April, but other than that, things have been rather quiet. Even though the current facilities haven't been open for long, is there a possibility of an eventual expansion, or is space/NIMBY trouble too much to handle?

They are suspending PAE-PSP for the summer, not the winter. They're going to add a 2nd daily PAE-SNA in the summer instead. Makes sense with all the Disneyland traffic.

Seasonal offset of PSP vs. SNA makes sense. AS has moved some flights around at PAE presumably based on traffic, probably including PDX flights. But the UA shift to some CR2s is interesting.

But overall, how is PAE doing? It seems like a fantastic opportunity for that part of the greater area. Is traffic meeting expectations?

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

717atOGG wrote:

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

Hopefully the rumor becomes true. PR has shown interest in SEA for several years, but it yet to happen because of their FAA safety rating. They were also rumored to be interested in SAN, with a circle-trip through SEA...like a MNL-SAN-SEA-MNL.

MaxTrimm wrote:

Pasco PSC is getting an ORD redeye in the Summer, also getting 3x daily SFO in Summer. Big year for growth.

I’m only showing 2x to SFO, any idea when 3x starts? Either way it’ll be a huge improvement vs current service and will make my commute more manageable. That is until I can finally get my transfer to ORD, which will be on XJT 175s.

717atOGG wrote:

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

That would be sweet, but IMO if they were starting the route in May, they would have officially announced it by now and it would be bookable on their website.

ER757 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

That would be sweet, but IMO if they were starting the route in May, they would have officially announced it by now and it would be bookable on their website.

It's on the OAG guide today that enilria posted earlier today. So based on that, it looks like it's a go. I think it's supposed to time with the transition from SEA-NRT-MNL to SEA-ICN-MNL with DL.

DeltaPSCFlyer wrote:

ER757 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

That would be sweet, but IMO if they were starting the route in May, they would have officially announced it by now and it would be bookable on their website.

It's on the OAG guide today that enilria posted earlier today. So based on that, it looks like it's a go. I think it's supposed to time with the transition from SEA-NRT-MNL to SEA-ICN-MNL with DL.

The announcement seems a little bit close in, but it's still always good to see another foreign tail here! Customs shouldn't be an issue at the hour it operates, as the only other arrivals are BR and CX. I'm also curious If PR will start codesharing with either AS or DL to feed the flight, because they aren't particularly close to any North American airlines IIRC.

ER757 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

That would be sweet, but IMO if they were starting the route in May, they would have officially announced it by now and it would be bookable on their website.

If this is indeed real, it will most likely be announced tomorrow (Monday) PST.

wedgetail737 wrote:

ER757 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Currently seeing a rumor on the Philippine Aviation Thread about PR starting MNL-SEA on 5/2/20 with an A350-900, 3x weekly. Their rumored schedule is outlined below.

PR128 MNL-SEA 2245-1945 137 A359
PR129 SEA-MNL 2305-0335+2 137 A359

Any thoughts on this? Would PR have room to enter the SEA market after all the Asian adds we got last year?

That would be sweet, but IMO if they were starting the route in May, they would have officially announced it by now and it would be bookable on their website.

If this is indeed real, it will most likely be announced tomorrow (Monday) PST.

Cool! Fingers crossed

If true it's a great add for another nonstop Asia Pacific destination, and will be neat to see another A350 around.

It looks like JSX is starting BFI-PDX in April.

Today AS announced SEA-MRY, starting 6/18/20 on a daily QX E175.

https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2020-01- ... California

717atOGG wrote:

Today AS announced SEA-MRY, starting 6/18/20 on a daily QX E175.

https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2020-01- ... California

It's about freaking time!

wedgetail737 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Today AS announced SEA-MRY, starting 6/18/20 on a daily QX E175.

https://newsroom.alaskaair.com/2020-01- ... California

It's about freaking time!

This is a route I too was surprised wasn't started earlier.

I asked the port for a timeline on the new Sky-bridge instillation, and their reply was

We’re close – it is in the coming weeks. It’s a very complex project and we want to make sure we safely get it just right!

It will be something to see that moved down the runway and hoisted into place. Anyone know a more specific date or if it will be published in advance?

tedw wrote:

I asked the port for a timeline on the new Sky-bridge instillation, and their reply was

We’re close – it is in the coming weeks. It’s a very complex project and we want to make sure we safely get it just right!

It will be something to see that moved down the runway and hoisted into place. Anyone know a more specific date or if it will be published in advance?

They don't have a specific date AFAIK, but when they move it, will happen in the middle of the night. They've got the towers up and the diagonal supports installed too - just the middle section needs to get lifted into place. You are correct that it would be a sight to behold

Beginning in April per delta.com bookings, looks like Delta is bringing the CRJ back to SEA. This seems very backwards to me as Delta has indicated they wanted only the Embraer 175 in competitive markets on the west coast and east coast, and they wanted SEA/LAX to largely be CRJ free. Due to the transfer of flying from Compass to SkyWest, the routes that will now see CRJ-700 service will be SEA-SNA/GEG/EUG, with SNA becoming all CR7, and so far 1x GEG and EUG becoming CR7.

At least this makes spotting in SEA a little more interesting.

jonair8 wrote:

Beginning in April per delta.com bookings, looks like Delta is bringing the CRJ back to SEA. This seems very backwards to me as Delta has indicated they wanted only the Embraer 175 in competitive markets on the west coast and east coast, and they wanted SEA/LAX to largely be CRJ free. Due to the transfer of flying from Compass to SkyWest, the routes that will now see CRJ-700 service will be SEA-SNA/GEG/EUG, with SNA becoming all CR7, and so far 1x GEG and EUG becoming CR7.

At least this makes spotting in SEA a little more interesting.

SNA is a LONG time on a CR7.

sxf24 wrote:

jonair8 wrote:

Beginning in April per delta.com bookings, looks like Delta is bringing the CRJ back to SEA. This seems very backwards to me as Delta has indicated they wanted only the Embraer 175 in competitive markets on the west coast and east coast, and they wanted SEA/LAX to largely be CRJ free. Due to the transfer of flying from Compass to SkyWest, the routes that will now see CRJ-700 service will be SEA-SNA/GEG/EUG, with SNA becoming all CR7, and so far 1x GEG and EUG becoming CR7.

At least this makes spotting in SEA a little more interesting.

SNA is a LONG time on a CR7.

UA used to fly CRJ-200's between SEA and LAX.

717atOGG wrote:

wedgetail737 wrote:

Also...
-EI goes daily on the SEA-DUB route.
-AC initiates SEA-YUL service with their new A220-300.
-VS starts another 3X weekly flight between SEA-LHR, in addition to their daily flight.

What else?

Additionally, BA is switching the 747-400 LHR-SEA flight to a 787-10 starting in July, which is probably a combination of downgauging due to their new PDX-LHR flight and responding to VS' increase to 1.5 daily. Hopefully the 78X sticks around through the winter, since it has a much more competitive hard product than the 77E (pre-retrofit), and is more interesting from a spotter's perspective.

Eh. We get loads of 787s but barely any 744s. I am sure I will appreciate the better J seat if I ever fly on it, but as a spotter I am very upset. A BA 747 was the first plane I ever flew as a child, and it has a special place in my heart. On another note remember when we had a daily BA 744+ a 4x weekly 744? I think that gave us a potential for four 747s in a day as DL and LH also had their 744s on the route. Anyone remember if BR still had the 744 flying here too?

jonair8 wrote:

Beginning in April per delta.com bookings, looks like Delta is bringing the CRJ back to SEA. This seems very backwards to me as Delta has indicated they wanted only the Embraer 175 in competitive markets on the west coast and east coast, and they wanted SEA/LAX to largely be CRJ free. Due to the transfer of flying from Compass to SkyWest, the routes that will now see CRJ-700 service will be SEA-SNA/GEG/EUG, with SNA becoming all CR7, and so far 1x GEG and EUG becoming CR7.

At least this makes spotting in SEA a little more interesting.

The endless 737s and E Jets was getting tiring. Great to see a little bit of variety. Do we still get 717s?

Looks like one of UA’s LAX-SEA turns is now a CR7 as well. Still on Skywest

speedbird52 wrote:

jonair8 wrote:

Beginning in April per delta.com bookings, looks like Delta is bringing the CRJ back to SEA. This seems very backwards to me as Delta has indicated they wanted only the Embraer 175 in competitive markets on the west coast and east coast, and they wanted SEA/LAX to largely be CRJ free. Due to the transfer of flying from Compass to SkyWest, the routes that will now see CRJ-700 service will be SEA-SNA/GEG/EUG, with SNA becoming all CR7, and so far 1x GEG and EUG becoming CR7.

At least this makes spotting in SEA a little more interesting.

The endless 737s and E Jets was getting tiring. Great to see a little bit of variety. Do we still get 717s?

I still see them here and there, but I think DL switched a lot of their routes to 737s/320s or E jets. There was a nice stretch when they weren't very hard to find on a given day.

In other news, I was quite surprised by the PR announcement. It's been speculated for awhile, but I always thought it was one of the more unlikely routes in the rumor mill. Another A350 will be nice to see, hopefully it's a success.

speedbird52 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

wedgetail737 wrote:

Also...
-EI goes daily on the SEA-DUB route.
-AC initiates SEA-YUL service with their new A220-300.
-VS starts another 3X weekly flight between SEA-LHR, in addition to their daily flight.

What else?

Additionally, BA is switching the 747-400 LHR-SEA flight to a 787-10 starting in July, which is probably a combination of downgauging due to their new PDX-LHR flight and responding to VS' increase to 1.5 daily. Hopefully the 78X sticks around through the winter, since it has a much more competitive hard product than the 77E (pre-retrofit), and is more interesting from a spotter's perspective.

Eh. We get loads of 787s but barely any 744s. I am sure I will appreciate the better J seat if I ever fly on it, but as a spotter I am very upset. A BA 747 was the first plane I ever flew as a child, and it has a special place in my heart. On another note remember when we had a daily BA 744+ a 4x weekly 744? I think that gave us a potential for four 747s in a day as DL and LH also had their 744s on the route. Anyone remember if BR still had the 744 flying here too?

BR no longer flies their 744's into SEA. I don't even know if BR still has Pax 744's any more. Anyway, today they fly 77W's. But the daily flight is going to 789, while the 3X or 4X weekly will remain a 77W.

ER757 wrote:

tedw wrote:

I asked the port for a timeline on the new Sky-bridge instillation, and their reply was

We’re close – it is in the coming weeks. It’s a very complex project and we want to make sure we safely get it just right!

It will be something to see that moved down the runway and hoisted into place. Anyone know a more specific date or if it will be published in advance?

They don't have a specific date AFAIK, but when they move it, will happen in the middle of the night. They've got the towers up and the diagonal supports installed too - just the middle section needs to get lifted into place. You are correct that it would be a sight to behold

Word is that it's this Friday night, 1/24. A time-lapse of raising the bridge is promised too!

Assuming the geopolitical situation in the Middle East calms down in the future (e.g. a new U.S. president mends ties with Iran, and forces Saudi/UAE and Qatar to play nice) could SEA support Etihad/Qatar/Turkish? There's overwhelming tech demand to BLR/HYD, plus a large Sikh community in Kent/Auburn to fuel VFR travel to the Punjab region, i.e. DEL. Probably lots of demand to MAA too since Chennai is the centre of India's aerospace industry. Of course Turkish doesn't fly to BLR/HYD (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this question), but they do fly to DEL.

And what kind of equipment/frequency could be supported? Would Qatar do a daily 35K or 77L? 777-9X? Sea-Tac cannot handle the A380 so an EY/QR A380 is out of the question, sadly.

Additionally, if YVR ends up getting a TK flight, could TK support both YVR and SEA? It's been rumoured that Turkish will start a 3/week IST-YVR service in June, but to quote one of the Vancouver mods on the Skyscraper Page forums, I'll believe it when I see the wheels touch down on the runway.

leftcoast8 wrote:

Assuming the geopolitical situation in the Middle East calms down in the future (e.g. a new U.S. president mends ties with Iran, and forces Saudi/UAE and Qatar to play nice) could SEA support Etihad/Qatar/Turkish? There's overwhelming tech demand to BLR/HYD, plus a large Sikh community in Kent/Auburn to fuel VFR travel to the Punjab region, i.e. DEL. Probably lots of demand to MAA too since Chennai is the centre of India's aerospace industry. Of course Turkish doesn't fly to BLR/HYD (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this question), but they do fly to DEL.

And what kind of equipment/frequency could be supported? Would Qatar do a daily 35K or 77L? 777-9X? Sea-Tac cannot handle the A380 so an EY/QR A380 is out of the question, sadly.

Additionally, if YVR ends up getting a TK flight, could TK support both YVR and SEA? It's been rumoured that Turkish will start a 3/week IST-YVR service in June, but to quote one of the Vancouver mods on the Skyscraper Page forums, I'll believe it when I see the wheels touch down on the runway.

India is pretty well served presently by EK and SQ. I am never there when the SQ flight is boarding but am while EK folks check in and board - a large percentage of the passengers are headed to India via DXB and anecdotal evidence I've seen/heard indicates the same is true for SQ. Not sure a third ME3 (or ME4 if we include TK) could be supported using connections to India as a basis for starting service. TK, might be able to generate enough O&D and other connecting traffic for less than daily service to IST - maybe 3X per week or so?

gunsontheroof wrote:

speedbird52 wrote:

jonair8 wrote:

Beginning in April per delta.com bookings, looks like Delta is bringing the CRJ back to SEA. This seems very backwards to me as Delta has indicated they wanted only the Embraer 175 in competitive markets on the west coast and east coast, and they wanted SEA/LAX to largely be CRJ free. Due to the transfer of flying from Compass to SkyWest, the routes that will now see CRJ-700 service will be SEA-SNA/GEG/EUG, with SNA becoming all CR7, and so far 1x GEG and EUG becoming CR7.

At least this makes spotting in SEA a little more interesting.

The endless 737s and E Jets was getting tiring. Great to see a little bit of variety. Do we still get 717s?

I still see them here and there, but I think DL switched a lot of their routes to 737s/320s or E jets. There was a nice stretch when they weren't very hard to find on a given day.

I actually believe they went away around August/September; the same happened at SLC and LAX during that timeframe. Some of the last routes were SEA-PDX/GEG/SFO/PSP/SAN/LAS/PHX/SLC/DEN, all of which have switched to either A220, A320, or 737 equipment. A bit sad to lose some aircraft diversity, though the A220s are definitely more competitive from a passenger comfort perspective.

717atOGG wrote:

gunsontheroof wrote:

speedbird52 wrote:

The endless 737s and E Jets was getting tiring. Great to see a little bit of variety. Do we still get 717s?

I still see them here and there, but I think DL switched a lot of their routes to 737s/320s or E jets. There was a nice stretch when they weren't very hard to find on a given day.

I actually believe they went away around August/September; the same happened at SLC and LAX during that timeframe. Some of the last routes were SEA-PDX/GEG/SFO/PSP/SAN/LAS/PHX/SLC/DEN, all of which have switched to either A220, A320, or 737 equipment. A bit sad to lose some aircraft diversity, though the A220s are definitely more competitive from a passenger comfort perspective.

Yeah, it looks like you're right. Really too bad, I enjoyed seeing them come in over my office every day. My sense of time isn't as great as it used to be, so thinking of a 717 I saw back in August or September could very well seem like it was last week!

Yeah I don't get the RJ7 thing and I've yet to hear from anyone in marketing as to why this is. It could be operationally due to E75 movement among carriers and mtc but given the scope of the operation, you'd think they'd find somewhere else to drop in the RJ7. Strange. And not a good look. The RJ7 vs the E75 is like a Ford Fiesta vs Taurus.

Sea-Tac Airport has a $2.3B plan to cope with growth. Now officials have to sell it.

The centerpiece of the estimated $2.3 billion plan, which was developed over the past six years, is a 19-gate terminal and passenger processing facility at the airport’s north end, together with an elevated busway to move people between the new and existing terminals and car rental facility.

Alaska offers a nice counter proposal fo

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2020/01/24/sea-tac-airport-has-a-2-3b-plan-to-cope-with.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

ksea wrote:

ER757 wrote:

tedw wrote:

I asked the port for a timeline on the new Sky-bridge instillation, and their reply was It will be something to see that moved down the runway and hoisted into place. Anyone know a more specific date or if it will be published in advance?

They don't have a specific date AFAIK, but when they move it, will happen in the middle of the night. They've got the towers up and the diagonal supports installed too - just the middle section needs to get lifted into place. You are correct that it would be a sight to behold

Word is that it's this Friday night, 1/24. A time-lapse of raising the bridge is promised too!

Not sure if it was raised last night but it was sitting out there in place on the ground about 16:30 local time when I was on my volunteer shift. The hoists were also in place and it wasn't too awful wind-wise, although it was raining cats and dogs most of the night. Not sure if that would have caused them to postpone or not.

I found this today and thought it was interesting - UA is adding domestic widebody service back to SEA this summer! From 6/4 to 8/17 they'll fly a daily 777-200 (domestic-configured) on one of their IAD-SEA flights. Must be a combination of trying to stay competitive with AS and DL service increases on the route and Amazon HQ2 traffic. Speaking of which, when was the last time that United did domestic widebody flights out of here? I know it must have been really common in the 90s and 2000s on DC-10s and 767s, but I haven't heard of them flying out of here at all for the ~5 years I've closely followed aviation.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ce-in-s20/

717atOGG wrote:

Speaking of which, when was the last time that United did domestic widebody flights out of here?

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ce-in-s20/

Probably when they still had SEA-NRT, I believe the SEA-DEN was tagged on to rotate the aircraft.

dennisho115 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Speaking of which, when was the last time that United did domestic widebody flights out of here?

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ce-in-s20/

Probably when they still had SEA-NRT, I believe the SEA-DEN was tagged on to rotate the aircraft.

Not sure that was always the arrangement, but DEN-SEA-NRT was definitely around for a few years. Outside of that, the only domestic widebody service I recall being scheduled to SEA from 2000 onwards was an IAD-SEA turn with a 763, but that may have only run in the summer season.

The 1990s were definitely a different story. I can remember seeing just about everything in the UA fleet parked at the N gates in both the Saul Bass and battleship liveries. I always thought the 727 wore the battleship nicely.

gunsontheroof wrote:

dennisho115 wrote:

717atOGG wrote:

Speaking of which, when was the last time that United did domestic widebody flights out of here?

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/ai ... ce-in-s20/

Probably when they still had SEA-NRT, I believe the SEA-DEN was tagged on to rotate the aircraft.

Not sure that was always the arrangement, but DEN-SEA-NRT was definitely around for a few years. Outside of that, the only domestic widebody service I recall being scheduled to SEA from 2000 onwards was an IAD-SEA turn with a 763, but that may have only run in the summer season.

The 1990s were definitely a different story. I can remember seeing just about everything in the UA fleet parked at the N gates in both the Saul Bass and battleship liveries. I always thought the 727 wore the battleship nicely.

When they flew to/from NRT, they'd use the same aircraft on to DEN sometimes - was an early AM departure. I remember seeing the battleship grey 744 departing when I was on my way to work.
Yeah, back in the 80's and 90's pretty much every flight to/from ORD was a DC-10. I can't count how many of those I was on back then. There was one 747 a day back then too, before UA got the non-stop ORD/NRT rights. They'd go ORD/SEA/NRT - was flight 150 westbound and 151 eastbound. Enjoyed riding aboard that one a few times as well

ER757 wrote:

ksea wrote:

ER757 wrote:

They don't have a specific date AFAIK, but when they move it, will happen in the middle of the night. They've got the towers up and the diagonal supports installed too - just the middle section needs to get lifted into place. You are correct that it would be a sight to behold

Word is that it's this Friday night, 1/24. A time-lapse of raising the bridge is promised too!

Not sure if it was raised last night but it was sitting out there in place on the ground about 16:30 local time when I was on my volunteer shift. The hoists were also in place and it wasn't too awful wind-wise, although it was raining cats and dogs most of the night. Not sure if that would have caused them to postpone or not.

Its up! https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=448227&page=343 If viewing on mobile navigate to last page. This is the desktop link.