Last week, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines expanded a high-profile partnership that will now allow Alaska customers to take American flights from the West Coast.
![American Airlines plane](https://20627419.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/20627419/hubfs/The%20Hustle/Assets/Images/446424571-American-Airlines-plane-1.webp?width=595&height=400&name=446424571-American-Airlines-plane-1.webp)
Airlines are fighting fiercely for corporate travelers…
And Seattle is the site of the latest high-flying battle
Why? Because Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is both:
- Alaska Airlines’ HQ, and
- A huge hub for high-flying employees of Amazon and Microsoft, which are both also headquartered in the area
American and Alaska also announced a new direct flight to Bangalore, India — a growing hub in the global tech travelscape (that also happens to be one of Amazon’s biggest business travel destinations).
But by connecting air passengers from 70+ US cities to India’s booming tech scene, American and Alaska hope to cement Seattle’s position as an important link in the chain of global tech business travel.
And Alaska’s also picking a flight with Delta
Delta, Alaska’s largest competitor at SEA, grew its capacity in Seattle by almost 50% between 2014 and 2018, while Alaska only expanded 41% in the 5 years preceding 2019.
And last year, Delta bought a 20% stake in American Airlines’ partner airline LATAM, putting even more pressure on Alaska to outmaneuver Delta at its home ’port.