Delta is continuing the expansion of its Seattle hub by announcing daily non-stop service to 5 new cities: Boise, Denver, Sacramento, Ketchikan and Sitka, Alaska.  The service will start on May 4th to Sacramento and Boise, on May 15th to Ketchikan and Sitka, Alaska and on June 4th to Denver.Tickets go on sale November 20th on the following routes:

• Five daily flights to Denver operated by Delta Connection carrier Compass Airlines
  
• Four daily flights to Sacramento, Calif. operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines
• Four daily flights to Boise, Idaho operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines
  
• One seasonal daily flight to Ketchikan, Alaska operated by Delta Connection carrier SkyWest Airlines
• One seasonal daily flight to Sitka, Alaska
  

Delta currently operates 80 peak-day departures to 25 destinations from Seattle.  Delta previously announced new service for December 20, 2014 which will bring them to 93 peak-day departures to 32 departures. Delta’s new destinations starting next month include Bozeman, Mont.; Maui, Hawaii; Palm Springs, Calif.; Phoenix; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and Tucson, Ariz.; and a second daily flight to Honolulu.

With this latest announced new service, Delta will offer 120 peak-day departures to 35 destinations by next summer.

Bottom Line:

The Seattle Times reported yesterday that Delta wants to triple the number of gates it has in SEA from 11 to 30, which could support as many as 240 daily departures.  This would help turn SEA into a major domestic and international gateway for Delta.  With all of Delta’s new service, its certainly making its case. Alaska Airlines can’t be happy with this latest invasion to their home turf.  The question quickly becomes: what are they going to do about it?