LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2002--The first-ever nonstop service between Southern California and Sun Valley takes off this Sunday, Dec. 15, when Horizon Air begins year-round flights from Los Angeles International Airport to the popular Idaho resort destination.

Wallace Huffman, Sun Valley Resort general manager, said, "We're extremely excited about this new nonstop air service. These daily flights are the first-ever flights from Southern California to Sun Valley in the more than 65 years of our operations. This service will allow Sun Valley to compete with other Western ski resorts that have had direct service from this market. This will be a year-round stimulus to the economic health of the Ketchum/Sun Valley community."

From Dec. 15, 2002, through Jan. 31, 2003, northbound service will depart Los Angeles at 1:10 p.m. and arrive in Sun Valley at 4:50 p.m. Starting Feb. 1, northbound service will depart Los Angeles at 1:55 p.m. and arrive in Sun Valley at 5:35 p.m.

From Dec. 15 through Jan. 31, 2003, southbound service will depart Sun Valley at 10:50 a.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 12:30 p.m. Starting Feb. 1, southbound service will depart Sun Valley at 11:35 a.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 1:15 p.m. Flight time each way will be about two hours and 40 minutes. The once-daily service will be operated with 70-seat, Q400 high-speed turboprop aircraft.

Horizon Air currently serves Sun Valley with daily, nonstop service to Seattle and will offer connecting service between Boise and Sun Valley for the ski season Dec. 15 through March 30, 2003. Starting Dec. 21, Horizon will offer weekly nonstop jet service each way on Saturdays between Los Angeles and Bozeman/Big Sky Montana for the ski season through March 22, 2003.

Reservations for all Horizon service are available by calling Horizon Air at 1-800/547-9308, or on the Web at www.horizonair.com. Complete packages to a variety of top class ski resorts are available at the website or by calling Alaska Airlines Vacations at 1-800/468-2248.

Horizon serves 45 cities throughout California, Colorado, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alberta. Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK).

EDITORS' NOTE: Images of the Q400 in Horizon Air livery are available on Bombardier's photo gallery at: http://www.bombardier.com/index.jsp?id=3_0&lang=en&file=/en/3_0/ 3_0_1_6_4_2_2_4_a.html

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field.)

CONTACT: Horizon Air Cheryl Temple, 206/431-4672 Dan Russo, 206/431-4513 http://newsroom.horizonair.com or Sun Valley Company Jack Sibbach, 208/622-2183 www.sunvalleycompany.com