The Renaissance-era art, ancient Roman history, and the creamy cacio e pepe of Rome will soon be a direct flight away from the Pacific Northwest.
Alaska Airlines has unveiled plans to launch inaugural nonstop service between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino Airport (FCO) in May 2026. This will be the airline’s first European destination, part of its broader strategy to enhance international connectivity from its Seattle hub—a move that came into play thanks to the Alaska-Hawaiian airlines merger, giving Alaska Airlines access to longer-range aircraft.
“Rome has been at the top of the list ever since we announced our new global gateway out of Seattle. Our guests have been asking for an easy way to get to Italy for years, and we’re thrilled to provide it to people in the Northwest and beyond,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci stated in a press release.
The new route will operate four times a week, departing Seattle on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 6 p.m. and arriving in the Eternal City at 1:45 p.m. the following day. It will return from Rome on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 3:45 p.m. and land at 6 p.m. local time. The airline hasn’t yet shared if the flights will be seasonal or year-round, but it did say they will take place on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
This marks the third wide-body, international route served by the Alaska Air Group (the parent company for Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian, the latter of which was acquired in September 2024) out of its global gateway at Seattle. The other routes are to Tokyo, Japan’s Narita International Airport (NRT), which launched on May 12, 2025, and Seoul, South Korea’s Incheon International Airport (ICN), slated to kick off September 12, 2025. However, those are technically operated by Hawaiian Airlines, as the wide-body planes (also known as twin-aisle aircraft) necessary for the flight currently belong to them.
“This new route will also mark the debut of Alaska’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which the airline acquired as part of its merger with Hawaiian Airlines,” Julian Kheel, travel expert and founder of Points Path, an award flight-search engine, told Afar. “Alaska has promised it will offer an all-new flagship international travel experience on these aircraft.”
At present, no other airline connects Seattle and Rome, though Delta Air Lines currently flies nonstop from Seattle to Amsterdam, London, and Paris.
“With Delta as Alaska’s top rival in Seattle, all eyes are now on whether Delta will fire back with a nonstop Rome route of its own from Seattle,” Kheel said. “Given Delta’s scale and aggressive stance in the market, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see such a move in the near future.”
Flights will be available on both alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com this fall. Travelers interested in this route can join the early-access list at alaskaair.com/rome to be notified when bookings open.
