14th July has seen Northern Pacific Airways complete their Inaugural flight, between Ontario Airport in California and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The first flight comes after numerous set backs, with operations initially slated to start last year.
Earlier in the week saw the startup carrier receiving their FAA approval to operate earlier in the week.
The flight, operating with the flight number of 7H777 was operated by Boeing 757-2B7 N628NP.
According to data from RadarBox, the flight departed Ontario at 15:47PDT, and arrived into Las Vegas at 15:36PDT.
Northern Pacific first announced their branding at an event in January 2022 in California. At the time, the airline announced they’d be connecting airports in the United States to East Asia, via their hub in Anchorage, Alaska.
Las Vegas and Ontario replace Anchorage, for now
In a surprise announcement earlier in 2023, the airline announced their first route would not be linking Asia to the USA. Instead, the airline elected to launch Ontario to Las Vegas flights instead.
The airline is still committed to their original plan, however, paperwork issues are believed to be holding up the Asian market launch.
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There is also the potential that there are no valid ETOPS alternates, due to the ongoing airspace restrictions with Russia.
Fleet Choices
Starting an airline with a legacy type like the 757 might be a surprise for some.
In an interview with AviationSource during the Airline’s launch event, Northern Pacific CEO Rob McKinney said “ It’s down to the fact that the aircraft were available.
While there might be advantages to having aircraft with newer technologies, you can’t just go and get them as they are not available.
So we see [the 757] as an opportunity with a finite window. And getting going sooner rather than later is super important to us.”
Conclusion
It is great to finally see Northern Pacific getting airborne, even if it isn’t a route we expected.
They certainly still are an airline to watch, as their operation grows and their vision comes to fruition.
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