At long last, Northern Pacific Airways is just on the cusp of officially launching operations. As of July 8th, the new airline has passed all necessary checks as required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and has scheduled its first, albeit long overdue, revenue flight.

First Flights Scheduled

The first revenue flight of Northern Pacific Airways will be on Friday, July 14th, between Ontario, California (ONT) and Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS). 

While a far cry from the routes the airline eventually wants to fly, a short route like ONT-LAS will be a great way for Northern Pacific crew to fine-tune their operations and ensure the service onboard is perfectly streamlined before the carrier expands internationally.

The inaugural flight will be operated as flight 7H-777 from Ontario to Las Vegas. There is no option to return to Ontario on that same day (July 14th), so the return flight to Ontario will be on Sunday, July 16th, as flight 7H-888.

Both flights will depart their respective origin airports at 2:00 p.m. PDT and are scheduled to arrive at their destinations by 3:00 p.m. Both Ontario and Las Vegas are in the same time zone. 

While both flights are blocked at one hour each way, most current flights between the two airports only last between 40 to 50 minutes from takeoff to touchdown.

Who is Northern Pacific?
 

Northern Pacific Airways is a new American low-cost airline with quite an interesting business model. Based in Anchorage, Alaska, the carrier has heavily promoted itself as a low-cost alternative for travel between the United States and Asia with stopovers in Alaska.

As part of this business model, Northern Pacific wants to promote Alaskan tourism with one to two-day stopovers in the state.

If you're traveling from Las Vegas to Tokyo, for example, you can fly Northern Pacific first to Anchorage, spend two days exploring Anchorage, and then fly onwards to Tokyo. 

You can think of Northern Pacific as the Alaskan version of Icelandair (or any Icelandic carrier in recent history for that matter). The likes of Icelandair and now-defunct WOW Air heavily advertised flights from North America to major European cities with stopover packages in Iceland. 

This business strategy was directed at boosting tourism to Iceland and so far has worked wonders, with new Icelandic carrier PLAY Airlines also attracting traffic to the country with its low fares and connecting itineraries to Europe.

Northern Pacific Airways, while initially starting on shorter routes, eventually hopes it can build its hub in Anchorage to become a convenient yet enjoyable stopover point for passengers traveling between the United States and Asia.

The airline will initially be operating a fleet of Boeing 757-200s. On the surface, this seems like a weird choice given the presence of much newer aircraft on the market.

However, Northern Pacific cites choosing the 757 on account of it being readily available and also able to reach the international destinations it eventually plans to serve. The carrier had no issue picking up some former American (legacy U.S. Airways) 757s and retrofitting them with new interiors and even scimitar winglets for better fuel efficiency.

A Long-Overdue Moment

Northern Pacific's inaugural flight was not always planned for July 14th. In fact, the carrier initially planned to launch revenue service on June 2nd with service from Ontario to Las Vegas.

However, due to delays in receiving full regulatory approval, the June 2nd inaugural was pushed back around three weeks to June 23rd. Once that day came around, the launch was then postponed indefinitely until full regulatory approval was received.

In the time leading up to its approval, the airline conducted various "proving runs", including one from Ontario all the way to Anchorage.

Therefore, it goes without saying that the airline's first revenue service on July 14th will be met with much fanfare, by both avgeeks and travel enthusiasts alike.

Incredible @NorthernPac 757-200 on a misty rainy arrival at @ANCairport Proving run from @flyONT Edmond Huot designed livery fits the scene perfectly. Power of the @RollsRoyce engines. Great State Of @TravelAlaska @BoeingAirplanes
thx @daperlitz pic.twitter.com/aCJzNrABMv

— Forward Media (@AllForwardMedia) July 4, 2023