Alaska Airlines Adds Routes to Athens and Paris From Seattle

Alaska Airlines is adding two more European routes. The carrier just announced nonstop service from its Seattle (SEA) hub to Athens (ATH) and Paris (CDG), the airline's latest step toward building SEA into a true global gateway.

Seattle-Athens starts May 12, 2027, flying 3x weekly through October on Boeing 787-9s with 34 business and 266 economy seats. Meanwhile, Seattle-Paris follows on May 25, 2027, with 5x weekly service through October on the same aircraft.

Alaska gave both routes a little Easter egg in their flight numbers: AS196 nods to Athens hosting the first modern Olympics in 1896, and AS136 references Paris's 136 museums.

Alaska will fly solo on Seattle-Athens, but Seattle-Paris puts it up against a well-established Air France and Delta joint venture that already runs multiple daily flights in summer. Both routes build on Alaska's existing Seattle-London and Seattle-Rome service as the airline works toward operating at least a dozen global routes out of SEA by 2030.

Andrew's Take

This is a logical extension of Alaska's Seattle-to-Europe strategy. Once you're flying to London, Paris and Athens are obvious next additions. The route worth watching is Paris: Alaska will be competing directly against an entrenched Air France/Delta joint venture with far more frequency and connectivity at CDG. Athens looks like the stronger bet by comparison, since Alaska has that market entirely to itself.