Alaska Airlines will add four more converted Boeing 737-800 freighters to its fleet, raising to nine the number of all-cargo aircraft the company operates.
The additional freighters will be dedicated to serving Alaska and Hawai’i, not any specific route, Tim Thompson, the company’s director of public relations, said in an email July 22.
Alaska operates a weekly cargo flight into Petersburg on Wednesdays, using a Boeing 737-700, which is slightly smaller than the 800 series but capable of carrying about 40,000 pounds in cargo containers lined up where the seats would be on a passenger aircraft.
The weekly flight is scheduled to leave Seattle every Thursday afternoon, arriving in Wrangell that evening after stops to drop off and pick up freight in Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau.
Petersburg also is scheduled for a weekly cargo flight, on Wednesdays.
The newest additions to the airline’s freighter fleet – scheduled for delivery next year, on long-term leases – could be used anywhere on Alaska’s route system when heavier loads demand an additional flight, Thompson said.
“Adding new freighters provides greater cargo capacity and allows us to add supplemental service as needed to communities,” he said.
The airline also moves cargo in the belly of its daily passenger flights in and out of Petersburg, but space is limited, particularly for larger items or when passenger loads are heavy.
Alaska Air Group owns and operates Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, which it took over in 2024, maintaining a fleet of more than 300 passenger jets, with capacity ranging from 124 passengers to 300 seats on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners it flies on its new international routes.
The two airlines fly a total of 15 freighters, of which 10 are operated by Hawaiian Airlines.
Alaska Air Group’s regional carrier, Horizon Airlines, operates 92 of its 76-passenger planes.