Alaska Air starts Los Angeles freighter service with 737-700F
The LAX route was originally planned to be served by the new 737-800BCFs, however, the delay in their operationalization led the airline to start the service with the existing 737-700s.
Alaska Air's first freighter service to Los Angeles (LAX) on April 23, 2024. (Credit: Alaska Air Cargo)
Alaska Air Cargo has begun a new twice-weekly freighter service from Anchorage to Los Angeles through Seattle in April 2024.
“This creates more seamless connections between Southern California and the 20 communities we serve across the state of Alaska,” reads the release.
The airline informed that, starting later in May, the LAX route will be served by the larger 737-800BCF freighters, which have 10,000 pounds more capacity per aircraft than their existing 737-700s.
Alaska Air Cargo operates a fleet of three 737-700 freighters and is in the process of adding two 737-800BCF freighters, as announced in November 2022. In fact, the airline announced the addition of a new 737-800BCF to its dedicated cargo fleet in November 2023 but remains non-operational. In a March 2024 update, Alaska Air Cargo managing director Adam Drouhard noted that they expect both freighters to enter service over the next few weeks. He wrote, “Later this spring, both of our new converted 737-800 freighters will be fully deployed.”
The new freighter service to Los Angeles is Alaska Air’s first beyond Seattle in the lower 48, and it increases its capacity to meet a growing demand for air freight services in industries up and down the West Coast.
Mike Narowski, Alaska Air Cargo’s regional sales manager for California, said, “The freighter gives us the capacity to carry large machinery and other bulky shipments that just weren’t possible in the past. With more expansions coming this year in belly-cargo routes serving LAX and other markets, we are poised to be the largest passenger cargo network on the West Coast.”
The release also reads, “Over the past year, we’ve been moving more retail goods and perishables from Southern California – and more e-commerce from the Bay Area – to Anchorage and communities across Alaska.”
The northbound freighters are timed to provide same-day or next-day service to all our stations across the state of Alaska.
The new freighter service gives more options to fly this season’s freshest seafood, including salmon from Bristol Bay, prized geoducks from Ketchikan and pristine halibut from Yakutat to Southern California.
“We have decades of cold-chain expertise shipping seafood between Alaska and the lower 48,” it reads.
The increased capacity provides new connections to carry larger, palletized parts and supplies between the two hubs for aerospace, biotechnology and other industries whose operations depend on time-critical shipments.
“And we’ve expanded our LAX station hours – now open 24/7 – to expedite drop-offs and pick-ups for overnight shipments, including our next-available-flight GoldStreak Package Express service,” it reads.
