Alaska Airlines and IndiGo to start flights to London Heathrow

It’s a rare to see a new entrant start flights to London Heathrow, so to have two announcements in the same week is impressive.

(We’re not even counting Riyadh Air, which we know has agreed slots to start flights from late October but has not yet made any announcement. There is also, although we didn’t mention it, Air Peace which will begin flying to Abuja.)

Alaska Airlines plans London to Seattle flights

Airline consolidation has been the story of US aviation for decades, and the latest example is the merger of Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines – just nine years after the former acquired Virgin America.

Hawaiian Airlines has long operated a fleet of long haul aircraft, including A330s and Boeing 787-9s. Whilst the A330s will remain at Hawaiian, Alaska has decide to take Hawaiian’s fleet of Dreamliners and use them to turn its Seattle home into a global hub.

Flights to Tokyo and Seoul will launch in September, followed by Rome in May 2026. It has now announced flights to London Heathrow and Reykjavik too. Iceland will use a single aisle Boeing 737, however.

The exact launch date and schedule are yet to be confirmed, although May 2026 is the target.

Alaska Airlines will become the fourth airline to operate the Seattle route, with British Airways, Delta and Virgin Atlantic already flying between the two airports – and BA operating two daily flights, at least in the summer.

Is there enough demand for a fourth airline and fifth daily flight? Back in 2023 American Airlines pulled out of the route, which it had launched just two years previously.

Alaska Airlines is part of the oneworld alliance, so you will be able to earn and redeem Avios on these flights. It will be interesting to see if it joins the British Airways, American Airlines, Finnair and Iberia transatlantic joint venture, which allows the airlines to co-ordinate schedules and pricing without falling afoul of competition rules. All profits are shared between airline partners according to a secret formula.

If so, might we see British Airways drop down to one daily flight and Alaska Airlines take over the fourth slot? It isn’t clear at the moment who will be providing Alaska’s slots.

Alaska Airlines has just announced a new livery for its Boeing 787-9 fleet (image below). These aircraft were originally delivered to Hawaiian with 34 business class seats and 266 economy seats.

The seats are based on the excellent Elevate Aircraft Seating Ascent product and sport very Hawaiian colours, so it’s expected these will be lightly refurbished to match Alaska Airlines’ brand.

IndiGo adds London Heathrow flights

Like Alaska, IndiGo is a newbie to long haul flying, having launched flights to Manchester and Amsterdam just last month.

Initially it is damp-leasing Norse Atlantic aircraft before taking delivery of its own long-haul fleet from 2027. (A damp lease means Norse is providing the aircraft and pilots but cabin crew are from IndiGo.)

It’s not yet clear which Indian city flights will operate from. The existing Manchester route is operated from Mumbai, but reports in the Indian press suggest that Heathrow and future European routes will fly from Delhi.

It’s all oddly vague, given that flights are meant to launch in a few weeks at the start of the winter season on 26th October.

IndiGo is in the process of increasing its Norse Atlantic fleet to six aircraft. The current Manchester and Amsterdam routes operate with just one aircraft on an alternating schedule.

Norse Atlantic’s premium economy cabin (there is no business class) is branded as IndiGoStretch. As our comparison of premium economy cabins shows, this is – hands down – the most generous PE seat on the UK market in terms of legroom.

Service on board is better than Norse Atlantic usually offers. Both economy and premium economy passengers will get complimentary hot meals, but only those in IndiGoStetch get free alcoholic drinks.

Turning convention upside down, meals are vegetarian by default with the option to pre-book a non-vegetarian meal before departure.

IndiGo is not in any airline alliance. Virgin Atlantic has a partnership with the airline but this only covers services which connect to Virgin Atlantic’s Indian flights.