Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma), as we have previously reported, has been trading “I will match you” route additions with Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) at their respective hubs at Seattle/Tacoma (SEA) and Salt Lake City (SLC). These moves come even though Alaska Airlines has an extensive feeder and code-share relationship with Delta. Delta even named a new Boeing 737 after the city of Seattle! Simply put, each carrier feeds each other at both SEA and SLC. However that close relationship began to unravel when Delta started adding feeder routes of its own at SEA, basically inferring to Alaska the relationship could be on the rocks. The aggressive move at SEA by Delta may have spurred Alaska to look to the new American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) (soon to become the largest airline in the world) for help and possibly a closer relationship. The two carriers already have a code-share relationship. A merger is probably out of the question since AA is becoming the largest carrier already and already had to overcome DOJ merger objections. The question will be in 2014 and beyond, will both carriers expand their relationship to fight off the advances of Delta at SEA?

Ted Reed of The Street (of Jim Cramer fame) looks at this intriguing question: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-890 N586AS (msn 35189), despite the Hawaiian Lei on the tail, arrives at a frigid Washington Reagan National Airport on January 18, 2014. The famous Eskimo tail emblem is expected to survive the next livery for Alaska Airlines that has been promised for this year.

Alaska Airlines: