Alaska, Horizon and Canadian Airlines Join Forces.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 12, 1999--Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air today announced formation of a comprehensive marketing agreement with Canadian Airlines.

The agreement among the carriers, effective April 1, provides for reciprocal code-sharing and anticipates participation in each other's frequent flyer programs.

Code sharing, which allows one carrier to coordinate and sell flights as its own on another carrier, provides customers with more travel options and the partner airlines with incremental passenger traffic. Moreover, reciprocal frequent flyer provisions, once approved, would mean members of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Canadian's Canadian Plus mileage program will earn mileage credits and be able to use awards across each other's route systems.

"This is terrific news for Alaska and Horizon passengers," said Gregg Saretsky, vice president of marketing and planning for Alaska Airlines. "By adding Canadian, an outstanding international carrier, to our growing list of marketing partners, we once again extend travel opportunities for our customers and we gain valuable market presence in Western Canada and beyond."

Don Casey, senior vice president of planning for Canadian Airlines, concurred. "We are extremely pleased to be entering into agreements with Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air," Casey said. "We will achieve an expanded presence in key West Coast markets that would not be available to us without these partnerships. As well, the agreements strengthen traffic flow through our Vancouver hub and provide a greatly expanded choice of international destinations for the customers of Canadian Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air."

The code-sharing agreement between the carriers is expected to generate significant incremental revenue to the carriers annually. The carriers will exchange traffic primarily between Vancouver, Seattle and numerous cities across the western U.S. and Canada.

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are wholly owned subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group Inc. Together, the carriers serve more than 70 cities eight Western states, Canada and Mexico.

With its travel partners, Canadian serves over 300 North American destinations and more than 600 worldwide, including over 80 flights weekly between Canada and Asia.