Alaska’s Seattle flights well received at Eisenhower airport

Sean Purcell was among the first Wichitans to fly on Alaska Airlines’ inaugural Seattle flight on Thursday.

It also was Purcell’s first business trip to Seattle.

“We’re excited to be part of the first flight,” said Purcell, executive vice president and general manager of Max Aerostructures. “We hope this will be a regular thing for us.”

Undoubtedly, so do Alaska Airlines and Wichita Airport Authority officials, especially director of airports Victor White.

White said the recruiting process to bring Alaska here began in 2005.

“This has been a very long courtship,” White said in remarks at a Wichita Eisenhower National Airport event celebrating the new service. “But finally we have them.”

The Seattle-based airline’s first flight arrived at Eisenhower shortly after 5 p.m., and disembarking passengers were greeted to a cacophony of party horns blown by guests attending the celebration.

Jeff Stacy from Seattle was one of the passengers. He traveled to Wichita to see family.

But “when we booked the flight, we had no idea it was the first,” Stacy said.

Stacy said he flies Alaska a lot from Seattle, normally on its bigger Boeing 737-800s.

The Embraer E175 regional jet that the airline is using on the Wichita-Seattle service was “surprisingly” comfortable, the 6-foot, 2-inch Stacy said.

The once-daily, nonstop flight departs Wichita at 5:50 p.m. and arrives at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 7:40 p.m. PDT.

The return leg departs Seattle at 11:45 a.m. PDT.

Alaska announced it would begin the Wichita-Seattle flights in early August 2016. Utah-based regional airline SkyWest operates the flights using the 76-seat Embraer jets.

It’s the only nonstop flight from Wichita to Seattle. American, Delta, Southwest and United, all of which serve Eisenhower, offer indirect flights to Seattle.

Seattle is one of five hubs for Alaska. Between it and Virgin America, which Alaska acquired last year, the airline operates nonstop flights to 89 destinations from Seattle.

Alaska vice president of planning John Kirby told The Eagle last month that it’s customary for the airline to start service in a new city with a once-daily flight, with an expectation to add more in the future.

That’s what Purcell said he is hoping for. In the meantime, Purcell said, he doesn’t mind the early evening flight because “it allows us to hit the ground running” the next morning.

“It’s an opportunity to connect with our customer on a more regular basis,” he said.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Alaska’s Seattle flights well received at Eisenhower airport."