Alaska Airlines to Restart Services Between Paine Field & Portland

In a bid to widen its popularity in terms of services, Alaska Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Air Group (ALK), is gearing up to make a comeback between Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) and Portland International Airport (PDX), effective June 2026.

The aforesaid route is one of the demanding routes for travelers across the greater Puget Sound region. The resumed service will be a nonstop service and will operate on a daily basis, connecting to Alaska's broader network of cities like Houston, Nashville, Orlando, Dallas, Bozeman, Spokane and Austin.Tickets to Portland are available at www.alaskaair.com.

Joshua Marcy, airport director at Paine Field, stated, "This is great news for our community and great news for the region. Restoring service to Portland not only reconnects Snohomish County with one of the Northwest's key cities, but it also gives residents seamless access to Alaska Airlines' vast network of destinations beyond PDX."

Considering the popularity of this route among travelers and that it connects two of the Pacific Northwest's significant economic and cultural hubs, the strategic move on Alaska Airlines’ part to resume services is expected to help strengthen this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock’s competitive position in the airline industry globally.

Over the past month, shares of ALK have gained 29.1% compared with the 17.5% growth of the Zacks Airline industry it belongs to.

ALK Stock One-Month Price Comparison

Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the Transportation sector can consider Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD) and LATAM Airlines GroupLTM.

EXPD currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

EXPD has an expected earnings growth rate of 3.50% for the current year. The company has an encouraging earnings surprise history. Its earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 13.94%.

LTM carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. LTM has an expected earnings growth rate of 52.63% for the current year. The company has a solid earnings surprise history. Its earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, and met in the remaining one, delivering an average beat of 29.84%. The consensus mark for LTM’s 2025 earnings has moved 5.34% north in the past 60 days.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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