On May 28, Alaska Airlines will make history by launching its first Boeing 737 MAX service to Europe. Whether that’s an exciting or notable prospect depends, in part, on your tolerance level. Some may think it is retrograde. However, it follows the well-discussed trend nowadays for long, thin narrowbody operations due to highly efficient smaller equipment with decent ranges.

It will materialize exactly a month after Alaska took off to Europe for the first time, with its Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Rome service. On May 21, the carrier will begin flying to London for the first time. The launch of flights to Iceland will end Alaska’s European network development for 2026.

Alaska’s Seasonal Service to Iceland

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Like many carriers that fly to Keflavik International Airport (KEF), especially from North America, Alaska will only serve the market through the summer. According to Cirium Diio data, flights will leave the US between May 28 and September 7, with barely three months of service. It is bound to make the weekly celebratory new routes article (see last week’s edition).

Covering 3,147 nautical miles (5,828 km) each way, Alaska’s SEA-KEF service will be the airline’s new longest ever narrowbody service in this sense. The route will be flown daily on the 161-seat 737 MAX 8. This configuration has 16 reclining chairs in the so-called domestic first (2-2 layout with 41″ pitch). Then there are 30 extra legroom seats (3-3; up to 38″) and 115 seats in the main cabin (3-3; 30″). While food and drink is included, passengers must stream entertainment to their devices.

Given there’s a daily flight from the get-go, the route’s frequency is unlikely to be increased in the future. However, if the route performs to expectations or exceeds them, the operating period in 2027 will probably be increased. If the first season’s performance was not quite as required, it’ll remain served for the same time or perhaps even reduced. In time, it’ll be good to see the carrier’s seat factor on its brand-new SEA-KEF service.

SEA-KEF Has Four Daily Flights For The First Time

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The market has had nonstop service for years — just not with a US airline. According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), Icelandair has flown to SEA since July 2009. Between then and February 2026, the carrier carried just shy of two million round-trip passengers. The route accounted for 13% of its US traffic in that period.

In the peak summer of 2026, Icelandair will serve KEF three times a day, just as it has since 2024. Unlike last summer, when the 187-seat Airbus A321LR was deployed exclusively, the 160-seat 737 MAX 8 will be flown instead. The Boeing single-aisle equipment is Icelandair’s lowest-capacity jet.

Downgauging the aircraft means 14% fewer seats for sale. Given the entry of Alaska, with its daily MAX 8 service, the market will have more capacity than ever. In July and August 2026, the pair will have over 76,000 two-way seats for sale between SEA and KEF, up by 10% year-over-year. That is not an overly excessive increase, but only because of Icelandair’s equipment change. This will help to reduce the impact of Alaska’s entry on its loads and yields.

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In the 12 months to February 2026, booking data suggests that 48,000 round-trip passengers flew between SEA and KEF. They did not fly elsewhere. It was KEF’s seventh most popular US city for local passengers.

Given four daily long-haul services, albeit only on pretty low-capacity single-aisle aircraft, that is not a particularly high local traffic volume. It was barely more than SEA to Barcelona, with Delta Air Lines introducing the first nonstop flight in early May.

Obviously, the local or point-to-point traffic is just one part of the picture. For Icelandair, passengers connecting across Europe is utterly critical, without which its frequency would probably be sub-daily. Booking data shows that over 110,000 passengers transited elsewhere via KEF. The five most popular cities were London, Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. On a great circle basis, flying SEA-KEF-London covers about the same distance as a nonstop SEA-London service.

Alaska will capture a proportion of the local KEF traffic, influenced by its enormous brand recognition in the Pacific Northwest. It’ll particularly appeal to those people who fly oneworld carriers and those who have its loyalty program. But with a competitive wait time in SEA, 30+ cities will be reachable via the hub, which collectively had 170,000+ passengers. Its overall offering will dictate what share of that traffic it gets.