OKLAHOMA CITY – Alaska Airlines is now ready for takeoff from Will Rogers World Airport.  Employees with Alaska Airlines celebrated their inaugural flight out of Oklahoma City Wednesday afternoon.  The airport has been working on bringing the carrier in for about seven years.

“So it’s really great to see it finally happen,” said airport spokesperson Karen Carney.

The non-stop flight will fill a previously unserviced area of the Pacific Northwest, where the need is growing with the city’s soaring aerospace industry. That includes Boeing, who announced last year they are moving another 900 jobs to Oklahoma City.

“We’ve got certainly Boeing and that makes a connection with Seattle, but we’ve also got Tinker Air Force Base, we have Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center and we have all of those associated businesses with those areas,” said Carney.

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In addition, the Airline will provide a link to Alaska and Canada, crucial stops for the energy sector that also helped put OKC on the airline’s radar.

“That whole business story we have been talking about in Oklahoma City for a long time, it really paid off in securing this new air service,” said Carney.

And early indications show there will be passengers on the planes.  The inaugural flight was completely full, and future flights don’t show a departure from that success.

“The early bookings have been great, I think it even surprised Alaska that it took off so well,” said Carney.

Right now, Alaska Airlines offers one flight a day seven days a week but hopes to add more flights in the near future.

The daily Seattle/Oklahoma City schedule is as follows:

Seattle to Oklahoma City

Departs – 10:30 a.m.

Arrives – 4:23 p.m.

Oklahoma City to Seattle

Departs – 5:05 p.m.

Arrives – 7:14 p.m.

The daily flights are open for sale through alaskaair.com, Alaska Airlines reservations at 1-800-252-7522 FREE or through travel agencies.

Thanks to Dana Hertneky, News 9