SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2002--Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK), the West Coast's dominant carrier, will inaugurate daily service between Seattle and Boston beginning April 4.

Boston becomes the third U.S. city east of the Rockies served by the 70-year-old, Seattle-based carrier.

"Since Boston and Seattle are high-tech centers and highly popular vacation destinations, there's a natural commonality between the two cities," said Gregg Saretsky, Alaska's senior vice president of marketing and planning.

"This will be the I-90 of the air," Saretsky said, referring to the interstate that begins in Boston and ends in Seattle.

Alaska will operate 120-seat Boeing 737-700s on the flight, which will depart Seattle at 8:35 a.m., arriving in Boston at 5 p.m. The westbound flight departs Boston at 5:55 p.m. and arrives in Seattle at 9:20 p.m.

Like the service Alaska launched to Washington, D.C., in September, service to Boston is made possible by the long-range capability of the carrier's new fleet of Next Generation Boeing 737-700 and -900 aircraft.

Known for its high quality customer service and leading edge technology, Alaska Airlines was recently voted "World's Best Domestic Airline" by readers of Travel+Leisure magazine.

For reservations go to www.alaskaair.com, call Alaska's toll-free reservations line at 1-800-ALASKAAIR (1-800-252-7522) or call your travel agent.

For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines Newsroom on the Internet at http://newsroom.alaskaair.com.

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