Alaska Airlines launching daily, non-stop San Jose-Austin flights from September 2, 2009

Alaska Airlines is starting daily, non-stop flights between in San Jose, California, and Austin in Texas – the two major technology hubs of the United States – on September 2, 2009.

The new flights, which will originate in Portland, Oregon, will leave San Jose at 8.55 a.m. and land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 2.15 p.m. CDT. On the return leg, the flight will take off from Austin at 3 p.m. Central time and reach San Jose at 4:40 p.m.

Tickets for the Alaska Airlines’ San Jose-Austin flights can be bought from June 25, 2009, on the airline’s website www.alaskaair.com and also by calling 1-800-252-7522.
American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, and a subsidiary of AMR Corporation, had announcement a week ago that it would discontinue its twice-weekly “nerd bird” flights between San Jose and Austin with effect from August 25, 2009. (The flights, lunched by American Airlines in 1992, were called “nerd birds” since they catered mostly to engineers and other technology workers in the Silicon Valley in San Jose, California.)
In press release, Alaska Airlines, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the United States, said the planned San Jose-Austin route was “a natural extension of the airline’s network” that provides “a vital link between two high-tech hubs.”
Andrew Harrison, vice-president of planning and revenue management of Alaska Airlines, said in the press release that the new flights between San Jose and Austin were being launched in response to the decision by American Airlines to discontinue its flights on the route.

Alaska Airlines, which code-shares with American Airlines, said it would use Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which can accommodate 157 passengers, on the San Jose-Austin route.
American Airlines uses, on its two daily flights on the San Jose-Austin route, MD-80 plane having 140 seats – with 16 seats in the first class and 124 seats in the coach.

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, which are subsidiaries of the Seattle-based Alaska Air Group, at present operates 13 flights a day out of San Jose – serving Sacramento, Portland, Boise, and Seattle.