SEATTLE, Nov 29, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK) bucked the gloomy predictions of many experts and flew nearly as many passengers and flights over this Thanksgiving holiday as last year.

"We had almost as many seats available as we did a year ago," said Gregg Saretsky, Alaska's senior vice president of marketing and planning. "And tremendous fares and increased confidence in air travel combined for a solid Thanksgiving at Alaska Airlines."

From the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, to the Sunday after, Available Seat Miles, the common units of airline capacity, were down by only nine-tenths of a percent. The percentage of seats filled saw just a one-point decline, from 72.7 percent to 71.7 percent.

Except for holiday peaks, Alaska is still flying at about five percent lower capacity than its pre-September 11 schedule but by February 10 will be at 100 percent.

Earlier this year Alaska Airlines was voted "World's Best Domestic Airline" by readers of Travel+Leisure magazine. Alaska and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, together serve 75 cities in the Lower 48, Alaska, Canada and Mexico.

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

CONTACT:          For Alaska Airlines
                  Jack Walsh, 206/901-8753
                  Jack Evans, 206/433-3134      

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