San Diego gets new nonstop to East Coast

Alaska Airlines is once again boosting its presence in San Diego with a new nonstop, this time to Newark, N.J.

Beginning Nov. 21, the airline will launch the daily service to Newark, although tickets can be purchased now. Newark is already served by United Airlines, which operates multiple daily nonstops out of San Diego International Airport.

Alaska has aggressively expanded its air service out of San Diego in recent years, adding nonstops to Fresno, Monterey, Santa Rosa, Orlando, Boston, Kauai, Los Cabos and Maui. Earlier this year, the airline announced one more nonstop destination — San Jose.

Where in 2009, Alaska was flying to just three cities, it is now up to 19, including Newark and a couple of seasonal destinations.

“We are pleased Alaska Airlines continues its network expansion in San Diego by adding flights to the New York/Newark metropolitan area,” said Hampton Brown, director of air service development for Lindbergh Field. “Alaska Airlines’ new service to Newark will provide a much needed nonstop option for accessing the New York City area’s west side. With Newark’s efficient public transport links, travelers will be able to fly from downtown San Diego and reach the center of Manhattan in about 6 hours.”

The new nonstop service only became possible after the Federal Aviation Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved Alaska Airlines’ request to operate additional daily flights to Newark.

“Since 2015, Alaska has launched 28 new routes from our West Coast hubs and focus cities,” said John Kirby, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of capacity planning. “With our new expanded service to Newark, we continue to grow our West Coast footprint by offering our valued customers more nonstop flights to popular business and leisure destinations.”

The new Newark nonstops will depart daily out of San Diego at 9:55 a.m. One-way fares, based on an online search, typically are priced between $169 to $200 but go up significantly during periods of high demand.