US carrier Alaska Airlines and its partners will have capacity this summer to carry nearly 1m more passengers than they did last year, as the airline prepares for its “largest summer schedule ever”. ”In response to an increase in travel demand, Alaska Airlines is offering the largest summer schedule in the company’s history, including new nonstop routes and international destinations we’ve never served before during our busiest months of the year,” the carrier said on 6 June. The carrier’s capacity figures apply to the June through August period. Alaska’s new destinations include Guatemala City, the Bahamas and Toronto. It is also rolling out new routes between Anchorage in Alaska and New York, Portland and Nashville, and boosting flights to and from its hubs in Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Anchorage. Cirium data shows that Alaska, sister company Horizon Air and regional partner SkyWest Airlines plan to operate 118,900 combined flights – enough to carry 15.8m passengers – between June and August. During the same period last year those airlines had scheduled 109,400 flights with 14.9m available flight-seats.<br/>