Alaska Airlines is reportedly planning to open a new crew base in Southern California.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that the airline will open a 737 base in San Diego on June 1, 2026. The carrier expects to station up to 250 captains and first officers there, the newspaper said.
As part of the expansion, Alaska will hire 90 new first officers during the first quarter of 2026, though they will not all be based in San Diego. The airline acknowledged that, to fully staff San Diego, pilots will have to be moved from other West Coast bases, though it did not detail how this would be done or which crew bases would lose pilots in the reshuffling.
The San Diego base will be Alaska’s third in California – behind Los Angeles and San Francisco – and sixth overall.
“San Diego is the fastest-growing hub in Alaska Airlines’ network, with 80% capacity growth between 2023 and the schedule we will fly next year, including 14 new routes,” Neil Thwaites, Alaska’s regional vice president of California, told the Daily News. “Establishing a pilot base here helps us improve operational reliability and support future growth in the region. While the base itself doesn’t automatically mean new routes, we are committed to long-term growth in San Diego, and the pilot base will help enable that.”
According to the Daily News’ report, eligible pilots can apply for an estimated 80 captain positions and 70 first officer positions between Dec. 15 and 28. A final decision on those positions will be made by Jan. 6, 2026.
A second round will take place in October of next year, when about 60 captain and 40 first officers slots become available.
Thwaites told the Daily News that pilots can apply from any of Alaska’s existing crew bases, which also include Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Anchorage, Alaska.
Alaska has been steadily growing its presence in San Diego. In October, it announced several new routes from the city, including to Dallas/Fort Worth, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
