In the midst of this coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, airlines have been losing money left and right. Pretty much all of the airlines have moved to make reductions and/or cuts in their operations, whether that be complete cuts to certain airports or the removal/suspension of low-demand routes. Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC/KSJC) has felt a lot of those cuts. It had permanently lost an airline, all of the long haul routes were suspended until further notice, and new destinations SJC fans have been excited about were put on hold.
Despite these rough times, Alaska Airlines and Volaris did take this opportunity to add new routes to the humble airport of the Bay Area. Some of the routes are completely new routes that SJC did not ever have service to. Others are routes that were previously served by other airlines but were either discontinued or suspended.
The following is a list of the newly added routes:
- San Jose (SJC) to Spokane (GEG) with Alaska (already started)
- San Jose (SJC) to Redmond-Bend (RDM) with Alaska
- San Jose (SJC) to Missoula (MSO) with Alaska
- San Jose (SJC) to Jackson Hole (JAC) with Alaska
- San Jose (SJC) to Mexico City (MEX) with Volaris
Spokane service began on September 1, 2020 (a few days ago). The first flight was AS2175 operated by N650QX.
Service to Redmond will begin on March 1, 2021
Service to Missoula will begin on March 11, 2021
Service to Jackson Hole will begin on December 19, 2020, and will be a winter seasonal service up until April 10, 2021
Service to Mexico City will begin on November 9, 2020
What will this mean for San Jose?
After being struck with rapidly declining passenger numbers because of the global pandemic, San Jose has been losing flights and services left and right. As airlines reconsolidate their operations to survive, many have opted to cut some services from the airport. As people become more comfortable to fly on airplanes over time, airports have been rebounding from their blows. Having 5 new routes at San Jose would allow for a bit of growth in this time of uncertainty. These new routes could also pave the way for even more flights to be added and re-added to San Jose as time goes on.
What do I think of this?
In this time of uncertainty and surprise, I think this is the most positive news I have heard from my favorite airport in a long time. Many of these routes were announced earlier but weren’t really reported here on the IFC. I’m excited about these new routes and I really hope we can slowly bounce back from the damage that this pandemic has caused.