New Pacific Airlines Shuts Down After Never Really Taking Off
New Pacific Shuts Down Effective Immediately
New Pacific Airlines (formerly Northern Pacific Airways) has officially ceased operations.
In a note to employees, CEO Thomas Hsieh said the airline would be shutting down effective immediately, explaining that the company is “unable to continue to fund the losses in our business.” He added that he was proud of what the team achieved under both the New Pacific and Ravn Alaska brands, and thanked staff for their work and commitment.
The airline operated a tiny fleet of four Boeing 757-200s and was based in Anchorage (ANC). With no ongoing revenue model that ever really stuck, the shutdown felt inevitable — the only real surprise is how long the project limped along.
The Big Idea: An Icelandair-Style Anchorage Hub
New Pacific’s original concept was ambitious:
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Use Anchorage as a mid-point hub between North America and Asia
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Offer one-stop connections similar to Icelandair’s model via Reykjavik
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Build a niche network using reconfigured 757s
Even before geopolitics changed, that plan was risky. It relied on:
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Convincing passengers to connect through Anchorage instead of larger, better-known hubs
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Making older 757s work economically in a world of newer, more efficient narrowbodies
Once Russian airspace closed to US carriers, the idea went from “tough sell” to “basically unworkable,” as the most direct transpacific routings via Alaska became much less practical.
The Pivot: Odd Domestic Routes & Then Charters
When the hub-and-spoke idea didn’t materialize, New Pacific tried something completely different.
In summer 2023, the airline briefly operated:
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Ontario (ONT) – Nashville (BNA)
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Ontario (ONT) – Reno (RNO)
The routes had nothing to do with the original Asia–North America vision and didn’t last long. After that, the airline exited scheduled flying entirely and pivoted to:
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Ad hoc and contract charter work
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Trying to generate cash with the 757s wherever there was short-term demand
Moving into charter flying wasn’t necessarily a bad idea, but by that point the airline had:
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Burned through time and money on a failed long-haul strategy
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Built no real brand or customer loyalty in any core market
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Accumulated debt with no clear path to scale
It felt more like a last-ditch survival move than a structured relaunch.
Strange Timing After Beond Partnership Announcement
What really makes this shutdown stand out is the timing.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Maldives-based Beond announced big global expansion plans, including:
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An all-business class operation in the United States
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A partnership with New Pacific to help operate that service
Now, almost immediately afterward, New Pacific has shut down.
That raises obvious questions:
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New Pacific surely knew its financial reality when that partnership was announced
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Beond itself has made very aggressive claims about growth that haven’t yet materialized
The whole thing doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the US all-business-class concept that was being teased.
Why New Pacific Was Always A Long Shot
In the end, New Pacific faced a brutal combination of factors:
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Flawed core model: An Anchorage hub between Asia and North America was always niche, even before Russian airspace issues.
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Old aircraft in a new-technology world: Operating four aging 757-200s is expensive and inflexible.
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No clear niche: After the original plan collapsed, the airline never really found a sustainable identity — just a series of pivots.
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Too little, too late: By the time it leaned into charters, the financial damage was likely already done.
The saddest part, as always in these stories, is the impact on employees who suddenly find themselves out of a job.
Bottom line
New Pacific Airlines has shut down operations effective immediately, ending a short and turbulent run for the Alaska-based 757 operator.
The carrier started with a shaky plan to connect North America and Asia via Anchorage, never launched those transpacific routes, briefly dabbled in random US domestic flying from Ontario to Nashville and Reno, and finally retreated into charter work.
Financial losses mounted, and the airline’s fate was sealed — even as it was being held up in a freshly announced partnership with Beond just weeks before shutting down.
The closure isn’t surprising. The only real surprise is how long the project managed to hang on, given a business model that never truly got off the ground.
