An American Airlines plane at left, leaves a gate area near an Alaska Airlines plane, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. Ted S. Warren | AP

Airlines are stepping up their battle over Seattle, where the spoils are high-spending corporate travelers from technology giants like Amazon and Microsoft and millions of other passengers at one of the country's fastest-growing airports. The latest shot fired in the turf war came last week when American Airlines and Alaska Airlines announced a plan to expand their partnership to include American's international flights from the West Coast, just weeks before reciprocal frequent-flyer benefits were set to be scaled back at the end of February. That agreement between Seattle's hometown airline and international giant American formed after Delta spent years beefing up service from Seattle, which is one of its most profitable hubs. The surprise agreement also came after Delta swooped in last September with plans to buy a 20% stake in American's longtime partner LATAM, a move that would increase Delta's presence in American's hub in Miami. The American-Alaska deal "can be seen as a competitive reply to Delta's very bold, recent incursion onto American's Miami turf," said Craig Jenks, founding president of Airline/Aircraft Projects, a New York aviation consulting firm.

Going abroad

The unusual Alaska-American agreement would allow Alaska to book its travelers on American's flights abroad from the West Coast. In its announcement, American unveiled plans to fly nonstop from Seattle to technology hub Bangalore, India, starting in October. Bangalore is one of Amazon's top three business-travel markets, said Brett Catlin, Alaska's head of network planning and alliances. The new service would launch almost a decade after American ended its flights to India. "India is a grossly under-served market, despite the number of businesses with a major presence in both India and the West Coast," Vasu Raja, American's senior vice president for network strategy, said in a news release. "By adding Seattle to Bangalore, we're giving customers from more than 70 U.S. cities access to India in one stop or less — versus the two, three or four stops they'd have to make to get there in the past." American also announced a flight between Seattle and London Heathrow, starting in March 2021, adding to flights on the route that American's trans-Atlantic partner British Airways offers from Seattle.

Prized growth