Northern Pacific Airways made an unexpected twist to its initial business plan and will temporarily connect Ontario (ONT), California, with Las Vegas (LAS), Nevada, between June 2 and July 30 with a weekly flight on a classic Boeing 757-200.
It will thus have to compete with the daily services of low-cost carriers Southwest and Frontier Airlines.
The curious thing is that the flights will be operated through its sister company, Ravn Alaska, also headed by Rob McKinney, CEO of both airlines.
Another fact is that the services are not marketed by Northern Pacific, but through travel websites, according to Ishrion Aviation, with the following itinerary:
- Ontario-Las Vegas flight 7H 711/777 ONT 14:00 – 15:00 Friday.
- Las Vegas-Ontario flight 7H 777/888 LAS 14:00 – 15:00 Sunday.
Northern Pacific Airways took a different direction, since its initial project was to be a low cost airline with the purpose of connecting North America with Asia through Anchorage.
Northern Pacific and its various stages as a start-up airline
In 2021, Northern Pacific Airways was presented, a low-cost airline project to connect North America with Asia through Anchorage, taking advantage of the geographical advantage of that city, with the aspiration of repeating a model like that of Icelandair in Reykjavik, but over the Pacific, with an initial investment of USD 350 million.
Northern Pacific’s plans included creating a transpacific hub in Alaska, offering customers increased travel opportunities from major U.S. metropolises and Asia at affordable prices. The company would focus on leisure and VFR (Friends and/or Family Visiting) passengers.
The company sought to provide an alternative to congested U.S. West Coast services at a terminal that has little or no use for such routes.
Currently, the operator has a fleet of four Boeing 757-200 aircraft registered as N200UU, N201UU, N202UW and N206UW. All are in storage and more units are expected to be added to complete twelve 757s.
Among its first routes in Asia were Seoul/Incheon and Tokyo.
But the geopolitical situation and the Covid-19 crisis affected Northern Pacific’s ambitious plans. Travel to the region was affected by sanitary restrictions and market over-demand. Added to this were rising fuel prices and the inability to fly over Russian airspace, which was closed due to sanctions following the outbreak of war with Ukraine.
Northern Pacific’s Boeing 757s do not have the capacity to fly to Asia without overflying Russian airspace.
Let’s go for Mexico
Following the above, in August 2022, Northern Pacific Airways applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) to conduct passenger, mail and cargo operations to Mexico under the Air Transport Agreement between the two countries.
See also: Northern Pacific applies to DoT to fly to Mexico
Currently, nine U.S. carriers offer flights between the U.S. and Mexico, while Mexican carriers are unable to increase capacity due to the country’s Category 2 air safety status with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Rob McKinney, CEO of Northern Pacific, stated that the plan was to operate charter flights from California to beach destinations in Mexico, and even mentioned Central America during the winter season.
See also: World Routes 2021: exclusive interview with Northern Pacific Airways CEO, Rob McKinney
Round 3: Northern Pacific’s domestic flights
It has been two and a half years since its launch, and one year since its official launch. Since then, Northern Pacific has not taken off with scheduled flights.
At the end of 2022, in an attempt to seek investors and business opportunities, the company went on a tour called «Show & Tell», which included stops in Maui (Hawaii), Saipan (North Marinas) and Anchorage (Alaska).
In each city they had the same goal, to connect Asia and the United States through an intermediary airport. In the case of Saipan, between Oceania and Asia, two important markets in the western Pacific islands.
Finally, the company will take advantage of its operations and crew base in Ontario to launch its flights to Las Vegas, which would be mainly focused on the leisure passenger looking to spend a weekend in the capital of sin.
