EVERETT, Wash. — Alaska Airlines said Thursday that by mid-June it will be back up to full service from Paine Field in Everett.
Commercial flights, which Alaska has only offered from Paine for a few years, were scaled back during the pandemic.
By June 17, full service will peak at 18 daily departures, which Alaska said is its full allotment from Paine Field, and will include a number of destinations in the western United States.
Service between Everett and San Francisco will resume on May 19 and scale up to four daily nonstop flights by the summer. In addition, travelers will be able to fly to Boise, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, San Diego, Phoenix and more.
The full service in June coincides with when the airline expects to have a number of pilots completing its training programs and begin commercial flights.
Last week, Alaska said it was canceling 2% of its flights through June to account for a pilot shortfall.
The main reason for the shortage of pilots, Alaska said, is the departure of many pilots during the pandemic and delays in its training program in early 2022 due to numerous illnesses because of omicron. That left the airline with 63 fewer pilots available in April than they had previously projected, Alaska said in a release.
The airline anticipates 30 pilots graduating from the training program this month, and even more in May, bringing its ranks back up.
However, the union for Alaska Airlines pilots argues that the carrier is also dealing with shortages because it has failed to retain current pilots and attract new ones.
Alaska is in the process of negotiating a new contract with its pilots' union.
At the beginning of the month, Alaska Airlines pilots held an informational picket up and down the West Coast to inform the public about the ongoing contract negotiations, which were postponed after 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.