Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

Alaska Airlines will add seasonal flights to Atlanta from its hub in Portland, Ore. Daily nonstop service on Boeing 737 aircraft will begin June 4 and run through Aug. 27.

“Alaska Airlines continues to provide more options to our loyal Portland customer base,” John Kirby, Alaska Air’s VP of capacity planning, says in a statement. “We are pleased to add seasonal Atlanta service to the growing list of non-stop destinations we offer from the Rose City.”

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Alaska Air says it previously served the Portland-Atlanta route from August 2013 through September 2014.

Once the new seasonal service begins in June, Portland-bound flights will depart Atlanta at 8:45 a.m. and land in Oregon at 11:05 a.m., all times local. The return will be a red-eye, leaving Portland at 11:40 p.m. and landing in Atlanta at 7:30 a.m. the following morning, all times local.

Alaska Air will compete head-to-head on the route with Delta, which offers four daily round-trip flights according to that carrier’s summer schedule.

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Of course, the route is just the latest reminder of the intense rivalry that has developed between Alaska and Delta. The airlines were close partners earlier this decade, but that relationship has deteriorated dramatically as Delta expanded aggressively in Alaska Air’s hometown of Seattle. Delta now operates it own connecting hub in Seattle, own that increasingly competes against Alaska Air’s own longtime hub there.

As for Alaska Air’s new route from Oregon, it will connect Portland – Alaska Air’s second-biggest hub – to Atlanta, which is home to both Delta’s headquarters and that airline’s busiest hub.

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