 Alaska Airlines also faced increased competition from low @-@ cost carriers . One carrier that competed with Alaska was MarkAir . Since it began operating in 1984 , competition had been reduced because it had worked out feeder agreements with Alaska Airlines . However , after Alaska Air declined to buy the airline in the fall of 1991 , it intensified competition with Alaska . The airline offered low @-@ cost service on the Anchorage @-@ Seattle route and other routes in Alaska , where Alaska Airlines earned almost one @-@ third of its revenues . This hurt Alaska Airlines ; for the first time in 20 years , it posted a loss of US $ 121 million . To save money , the airline canceled two proposed maintenance facilities and deferred a large aircraft purchase worth US $ 2 billion . It was able to increase utilization on its existing planes , though . The airline also cut labor costs , but this ended up making relations with unions tense . 
