AS SEA HQ and BoD teams are VERY good at preserving their own jobs. They LIKE running a hometown niche airline.

It would hard to get them on board and maybe harder to do a hostile.

Previous mergers, including one that didn't happen (B6 + VX) all revolve around this core principle. Something to be aware of if you're contemplating an AS merger. Unless the new entity is based in SEA and named "Alaska Southwest Airlines".