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Alaska Airlines finds success in independence
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Source: Alaska Airlines
Airline mergers are all the rage these days, but then, they always have been. There’s usually the typical feeding frenzy of one airline merging with another, and then the rest of the carriers saying, “Oh bollocks! We need to remain competitive!” With the exception of West Coast based America West merging with USAirways in a sort of bicoastal dichotomy, most airline mergers have Left Coasters out in the cold after a few years. Then-USAir bought PSA and slowly dismantled the western route system, American bought both AirCal and Reno Air and did the same to both. Delta has been dismantling the west coast network outside of the Salt Lake hub acquired from the Western merger in 1987.
I found this post recently suggesting Delta merge with Alaska Airlines, and the old acronym BOHICA (Bend Over Here It Comes Again) came to mind should that idea come to fruition. Delta’s already squandered their West Coast opportunity. Western’s Los Angeles and San Francisco operations were drawn down so far Western feeder affiliate SkyWest found greener pastures operating as a United Express carrier in California instead. And flights to Alaska got it good after the merger. Western’s unique Los Angeles-Seattle-Juneau-Fairbanks flights got the axe, and what started as ten daily flights from Anchorage to five cities after the merger is now but a single flight during the winter months. (Delta, like everyone else, operates additional seasonal service to Anchorage during the summer).
Alaska Airlines has operated a lone path for three quarters of a century, and the carrier’s oeuvre is so unique in the industry it would be incredibly difficult for another to merge with it. The State of Alaska is such a unique operating environment. Would a manager in Atlanta understand the necessity for a new multi-million dollar terminal complex in Nome, with a handful of flights a day? Or how to staff the Deadhorse station where the local population of permanent residents is zero?
Alaska has built its fortune on maintaining a strong, almost monopolistic presence on the West Coast that offers benefits to fliers from nearly every airline program (excepting already West Coast strong Star Alliance partners United and USAirways). Alaska flights carry codes from a litany of carriers as diverse as Qantas, Air France, and Cathay Pacific. Alaska already has a strong codeshare and frequent flier agreement in place with Delta. Alaska Mileage has been a Freddie Award winner as of late as well, another great asset that would be lost if the program were folded into the less-than-stellar (and Freddie Award-losing) Delta SkyMiles.
Now my own experience with Alaska has met peaks and valleys over the years, to a current attitude of “slightly above the rest of the pack, but still not quite as different/better/unique as they let on” , but the point is clear: Alaska is too unique to merge. While Alaska might appear to be in control of some prime turf, especially in the airline industry fanatic fantasy merger picks, the reality is that Alaska serves such a vital function to the people of Alaska that would be poorly served (or not at all served) by a larger combined airline.
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