Alaska Airlines Announces London Heathrow and Reykjavik Routes Plus New 787 Global Livery for 2026

Alaska Airlines is on a roll in 2025. The airline after having acquire Hawaiian Airlines is making some bold moves that are certainly attracting some serious attention. It’s been a non-stop stream of news in regard to network expansion by the newly formed group and here comes yet another one. This time it’s a triple announcement: two new routes (London Heathrow and Reykjavik) and the much anticipated new Alaska Airlines wide body livery.

Alaska Airlines London Heathrow Route: Daily Year-Round Service Starting Spring 2026

The first, and most important, route I need to talk to you about is Alaska Airlines new flight from Seattle to London Heathrow. This is a big deal for Alaska Airlines, a bold statement of intentions as a newly established long haul contender.

Alaska Airlines, in conjunction with Hawaiian Airlines, has announced a long list of new flights which it will soon start operating. Top of the list in this regard the Seattle to Seoul Incheon and Tokyo Narita (respectively commencing September 12th 2025 and January 7th 2026) with the expansion reaching into Europe in May 2026 launching flight to from Seattle to Rome Fiumicino.

The newest announced expansion is London Heathrow airport a strategically important destination for multiple reasons. London is a tourist hotspot but most importantly still one of the world’s most influential financial cities. Along with that, and I’ll cover more on this later, London Heathrow is the primary hub for the oneworld alliance in Europe (Alaska Airlines is part of the same alliance).

As for the timings of the new Alaska Airlines Seattle to Heathrow flight it’ll operate year round and daily as follows:

• Seattle (SEA) -> London Heathrow (LHR) departing 21:40 arriving 15:05 the next day.
• London Heathrow (LHR) -> Seattle (SEA) departing 17:00 arriving 18:50.

The Seattle to Reykjavik service, I’ll cover below, flights will commence in spring 2026. However the two new routes differ in aircraft type.

The new Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to London Heathrow will operate on one of the newly painted and retrofitted Boeing 787-9. Currently Alaska and Hawaiian share a total fleet of 4 Dreamliners. Those and the 13 more to come will be painted in Alaska Airlines colors and operated by the carrier with interiors redesigned from the ground up.

Seattle to Reykjavik Iceland: Boeing 737 MAX 8 Summer Seasonal Service

Reykjavik differs from London Heathrow for the client type its looking to intercept. This is, clear as day, a leisure oriented service. It’ll only operate seasonally and offers little onwards travel opportunities.

New Seattle to Reykjavik flights will also takeoff in spring 2026 but will be aboard a much smaller aircraft. And this is the key point that makes this service noteworthy for aviation enthusiasts. The new flight, of which we are still missing schedule and timings, will be operated using a narrow body Boeing 737 MAX 8. That is a long flight for this aircraft type.

So much so that it’ll be among the longest routes operated by this aircraft type, which is capable of long range operations but much less used in such a way than its airbus counterpart.

Alaska Airlines New 787 Global Livery Design: Aurora Borealis-Inspired Look

Now those two new routes alone would be enough news to keep me going for hours, but there’s more. Alaska Airlines also revealed its much anticipated new Boeing 787-9 livery and teased its new interiors. Also this all helped clarify the entire fleet strategy.

Quickly covering that latest point, all Boeing 787-9 currently possessed by Hawaiian and yet to come will move over to Alaska Airlines. Hawaiian will retain the Airbus A330-200s for its long haul operations. There will be significant investments on cabin modernization pouring into the A330s too in coming year.

The Boeing 787-9s as they transition over to Alaska Airlines’ fleet will be painted in an all new livery and retrofitted with new cabin interiors.

Alaska Airlines will be moving away from its classic livery for the Boeing 787-9s. A livery that the airline describes as:

“a contemporary nod to our classic liveries of the 70s and 80s that bridges our past to our future”

What you’ll notice immediately as a striking feature of the new Dreamliner livery is the absence of the The Alaska Native on the vertical stabilizer (tail fin).

Alaska Airlines International Expansion: 12 Destinations Planned by 2030

The addition of Reykjavik and London Heathrow to the Alaska route network brings will bring the count of intercontinental flights to 5. However we can expect more of this in coming months and years as Alaska Airlines plans to put it newly acquired fleet of 787s to good use ramping up long haul flights to 12 destinations by 2030. Can’t wait to find out which will be the next destinations to be announced.

Boeing 787-9 Premium Cabin: 34 Enclosed Business Class Suites Configuration

Once again we don’t have much to run off. The newest route starting on the Boeing 787-9, from Seattle to Seoul Incheon, still shows it to be operated by Hawaiian. Which means that we don’t have any insights on the true Alaska Airlines new Boeing 787 cabin layout.

What we do know, however, is that Alaska Airlines will have 34 fully enclosed suite-style business class seats with flat bed capable seats. We got a glimpse of that all in the teaser video the airline also released. From the looks of it it’ll be a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone layout. A setup which ensures direct aisle access to all passengers and a good level of privacy with seats setup in such a way to avoid awkward eye encounters, so to speak.

Oneworld Alliance Strategy: American Airlines and British Airways Partnership Benefits

Launching flights from Seattle to London Heathrow with daily frequency might seem risky if taken out of context. However, taking into account that Heathrow is the European home to the oneworld alliance it all makes more sense. The close partnership with American Airlines and British Airways will help fill Alaska planes. A partnership which will further grow and offering more interlined travel opportunities out of Seattle and all the more out of London Heathrow.