If you haven’t stepped on an Alaska Airlines plane in awhile, chances are you’ll notice more premium seats next time you board.<\/p>\n
The Seattle-based carrier is nearing the finish line of a two-year push to retrofit its planes<\/a> with more first-class and extra-legroom seats.<\/p>\n It’s part of an effort to add 1.3 million higher-priced seats to the airline’s schedule each year.<\/p>\n As of Friday, Alaska had completed cabin updates on 218 of its Boeing 737 jets, executives shared.<\/p>\n That means the carrier is about 86% of the way done with the refits, which include adding two additional rows of first-class seats on 737-800 aircraft.<\/p>\n On the 737-800s, by the way, these seats are a new first-class product for the carrier, featuring footrests \u2014 a touch more commonly found in competitors’ international premium economy cabins.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Alaska is adding extra rows of extra legroom “Premium” class seats on its larger 737-900 and MAX 9 planes, which already had four full rows of the first-class recliners up front.<\/p>\n “All these retrofits will be finished in time for selling into the summer travel [season],” Alaska Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison said Friday on the company’s earnings call.<\/p>\n Like most U.S. airlines, Alaska is hoping to tap into customers’ willingness to pay up for higher-end seats.<\/a><\/p>\n Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter<\/p>\n Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG\u2019s experts<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/images\/EmailSignUp\/daily-mob.svg\"\/)
<\/picture>\n