Spots 
Alaska Airlines is overhauling its Alaska and Hawaiian cabins to include brand-new top-tier suites, a premium-economy class and other features. The overhaul comes amid an industrywide investment to add more higher-priced seats. Hawaiian and Alaska completed their merger in September 2024 but will continue to operate as distinct brands.
Alaska Airlines is overhauling cabins across Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines to add hundreds of high-end seats and building new airport lounges, banking on customers' continued willingness to pay a premium for travel luxuries to grow its profits into the next decade.
The changes were announced ahead of Alaska's investor day in Seattle on Tuesday, when the carrier's executives will face questions on the new offerings and how the airline is coping with the profit-eating surge in jet fuel this year. They are also likely to tie the new products to the company's prospects to grow its co-branded credit card and loyalty program, which have generated billions for airlines.
Tune in at 10:20 ET as Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci joins CNBC TV. Watch in real time on CNBC+ or the CNBC Pro stream.
Even with the cabin changes, Alaska, which completed its merger with Hawaiian Airlines in September 2024, will continue to operate the two airlines as separate brands. Here are some of the changes:
Alaska's Boeing 787 Dreamliners will get 34 lie-flat suites in a new offering it's calling Aurora. It will also have 35 seats in a new premium-economy section, called Premium Reserve, on the 787-9 and 787-10, starting in 2028.
"At least" 25 of the yet-to-be certified Boeing 737 Max 10s will have 12 lie-flat Aurora suites and premium-economy seats, a bid to compete with other airlines on lucrative cross-country routes.
Hawaiian Airlines' 24 Airbus A330s will each get 22 all-new first-class suites with sliding doors, starting in 2028, and its first-ever premium-economy section, with 28 seats.
The carrier will open a new 41,000-square-foot Alaska lounge at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with dedicated space for Aurora suites flyers, similar to the tiered lounge system Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines have. Hawaiian is building an almost 13,000-square-foot lounge in Honolulu's Terminal 1, slated to open in early 2028.
U.S. airlines have been spending the past few years revamping their cabins to add more premium seats, often at the expense of coach seats, since first-class fares can go for many times more than an economy-class ticket, and customers keep paying to sit closer to the front.
Alaska Airlines is overhauling its Alaska and Hawaiian cabins to include brand-new top-tier suites, a premium-economy class and other features.