SEATTLE, Feb 6, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Alaska Airlines is slashing its highest fares by nearly 50 percent in a variety of markets as part of a test to see if a simplified fare structure will lure business travelers back to the skies.

"We're going to test the theory that the convoluted nature of airline pricing is a major deterrent to flying," said Gregg Saretsky, executive vice president of marketing and planning. "This will provide the best value to our customers and at the same time simplify the fare structure."

Beginning today, business fares that require little or no advance purchase or minimum stay have been reduced by hundreds of dollars on routes such as Seattle-Boston, Anchorage-Chicago, Seattle-Las Vegas, Portland-San Francisco, Ontario-Seattle, Seattle-Miami and Vancouver, BC to San Francisco.

First Class fares in those markets have also been cut dramatically.

"A sluggish economy, coupled with the aftershocks of 9/11, has given rise to a troubling fact that has helped put the airline industry on its back: Many business travelers are no longer flying and those who are flying often modify their itineraries in order to qualify for the lowest possible fare," Saretsky said.

For instance, the lowest-priced business fare, which requires only a three-day advance purchase, has been slashed from $839 to $499 for travel between Seattle and Boston, and between Anchorage and Chicago it is $574, down from $1,073. On the West Coast the San Francisco-Vancouver fare dropped from $306 to $189.

Another idiosyncrasy of the traditional airline fare structure is the existence of as many as 15 or more different fares between the same two cities. The new structure reduces the number of individual coach fares to as few as six.

The nation's ninth largest carrier, Alaska Airlines was just named 2003 Technology Leader of the Year by Air Transport World magazine. It was also ranked best major U.S. airline in the 2002 Airline Quality Rating compiled by Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. And readers of Travel+Leisure magazine voted Alaska Airlines No.1 among the major airlines in the "World's Best Domestic Airline." Alaska and its regional partner, Horizon Air, together serve more than 80 cities in the Lower 48, Alaska, Canada and Mexico. For reservations go to www.alaskaair.com or call Alaska's toll-free reservations line at 1-800-ALASKAAIR (1-800-252-7522). For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines Newsroom on the Internet at http://newsroom.alaskaair.com.

CONTACT:          Alaska Airlines
                  Jack Walsh, 206/901-8753

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