Originally Posted by rickair7777

Their conservative nature has definitely been a good thing at times (this being one of those times) but I suspect they're a tad too small to thrive as independent PNW regional major in the long-term. Allegiant, Frontier, etc have their special business model niche, but AS's niche is hub-n-spoke legacy with regional feed (minus the widebodies)... in normal times, the other legacies can infringe on that (to say nothing of SWA) and will do so as a matter of course over time. Battle for Seattle? Saved by the bell. About the only thing Alaska has a lock is, well, Alaska... the others majors don't want to touch most of that with a 10' pole.

But I don't think they're idiots by any means, they know they have to grow, they're just torn between their conservative nature and the fairly obvious pressure not to stagnate or shrink... stagnation is the back side of the power curve in this industry.