ROUTES - Northern Pacific Airways plans late 2Q23 domestic debut

Northern Pacific Airways (7H, Anchorage Ted Stevens) plans to debut domestically between Ontario, California, and Las Vegas Harry Reid, Nevada, this summer, Chief Executive Officer Rob McKinney has confirmed to ch-aviation.

Schedules filed by the Alaskan start-up reveal it plans a June 4 start, operating weekly flights until July 30 between its maintenance base in Ontario, east of Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, using one of its four B757-200s. "Yes, we are going to operate flights from ONT to LAS this summer," McKinney confirmed.

"Asia is still coming, but with everything going on in the world, international flying is substantially more complicated. To get planes in the air, we are beginning with a domestic strategy," he explained.

"This announcement represents the achievement of a major milestone for Northern Pacific Airways,” said McKinney. "The airline now has a live flight schedule, purchasable tickets, and refurbished aircraft ready to go, and I can’t wait for passengers to meet our team onboard and fly with us."

As reported, Northern Pacific Airways late last year shelved interim plans to fly between the US and Mexico.

At the time, it was refocusing on its original plan of connecting the US with Northeast Asia via its home base in Anchorage Ted Stevens, Alaska. The goal was to connect San Francisco, CA, Ontario (California), and New York via Anchorage with South Korea and Japan. However, with Russian airspace closed due to the war in Ukraine, Northern Pacific Airways needs ETOPS [extended-range twin-engine operations performance standards] to fly to Asia. It was talking to Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) about wet-leasing aircraft for the initial intercontinental flights.

McKinney last year explained to ch-aviation that the airline was facing a conundrum where it could not apply for ETOPS until it started flying, and it couldn't start the regulatory process with Asian countries until it received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authority.

Northern Pacific Airways has a fleet of four in-house B757-200s, according to ch-aviation fleets advanced data.

CH Aviation / Photos: Northern Pacifi