Alaska to Use TurboProp on Kodiak Route

The Bombardier Q400 will begin service between Anchorage and Kodiak in March 2014. Alaska Air photo

Jay Barrett/KMXT
Starting next March, travelers to and from Kodiak on Alaska Airlines will be flying in something other than a Boeing 737. The air carrier announced it will start flying the Bombardier Q-400 on several of its routes, including Anchorage to Kodiak. The Q-400 is basically a stretched and updated version of the De Haviland Dash-8, which Era Aviation currently flies.
The Q-400 will replace one of Alaska’s two daily flights to Kodiak currently served by the 737. Service will begin on March 3, 2014, through April 30th, and then resume seasonally in the wintertime from October through April.
The Q-400 will largely be used on the Anchorage to Fairbanks route, where it will make eight roundtrips per day, also starting next March.
Marilyn Romano, the airline’s regional vice president in Alaska, said the use of the Q-400 will free up the 737s for more flights to and from the Lower 48 from Anchorage, including direct flights to Phoenix and Las Vegas, which begin in December.
The Q-400s can carry 76 passengers and will be operated by Alaska subsidiary Horizon Air, though the planes are painted in Alaska Air livery.