I HIGHLY doubt AK would sell off QX unless they were in bankruptcy and it was purely a survival issue. QX has made money for AK and as far as I can tell has been a very healthy relationship. One advantage Horizon has over other regionals is that they are owned by their parent company so it would take a sell off to lose that flying (which I think is very doubtful). Horizon also flies their own colors / name and many of their tickets are sold through horizon - ask anyone in the northwest who Horizon Air is and they know right away, they know about horizon deals and they buy horizon tickets. Ask the average joe who Air Wisconsin is or Pinnacle etc. and chances are they won't have a clue. That being said horizon does do contract work for Frontier who could decide to renegotiate that contract which would lead to problems for horizon pilots. Upgrades are slow anyplace that pay is livable and the company is somewhat stable. Hopefully the industry will turn around and change that someday though.