Hawthorne, California-based Advanced Air has been a pioneer in starting flights to cities that haven’t had air service in a long time. It has achieved this through a handful of cities in New Mexico, utilizing various state grants, which are separate from the standard Essential Air Service (EAS) operations they already provide.
In most EAS contracts, one of the stipulations is that the airline has to have baggage agreements or codeshares with other major airlines so passengers can connect onto a larger network. Up until this point, Advanced has not yet had one of these partners.
During the middle of May, Advanced Air announced its first-ever interline agreement, which will be with Alaska Airlines. With this new interline, Advanced Air passengers can connect to/from the greater Alaska Airlines network from Advanced’s hubs in the southwestern United States, like Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Oakland, California.
“This is a major step forward in making regional travel more accessible and efficient,” said Barbara Hunt, vice president of business operations at Advanced Air.
Currently, the interline bookings between Advanced Air and Alaska can only be accomplished through third-party sites like Expedia or Travelocity, but will soon be available on Alaska’s website as well. Passengers can book from one of Advanced Air’s destinations to Alaska’s destinations around the country.
Advanced Air even made a few maps that show the current connections that are possible with this new partnership. However, these maps are just a generalization, and connectivity options between the two airlines are subject to change.
Advanced Air’s operation in Oakland is very close to an Alaska Airlines hub, with San Francisco being just across the bay. Crescent City, the community they fly to from Oakland, is an Essential Air Service city, and currently, the citizens in that community want Oakland. But, with this increased connectivity, that could change in the next round of EAS proposals, and according to Advanced Air, it is “definitely an interesting point that could factor into future planning.”
There are a few airports that they won’t offer connectivity out of for Alaska, and the main one is Hawthorne, which serves as the airline’s headquarters. This is mostly because Hawthorne is not served by Alaska Airlines and is only a couple of miles away from the much larger Los Angeles.
