 In January 2002 , William Ayer was named CEO of Alaska Airlines , who was replaced by Brad Tilden in 2012 . Ayer had been serving as president under Kelly since 1997 , having come to Alaska from Horizon two years earlier after spending 13 years with the smaller airline . Ayer took over as chairman and CEO of the Alaska in 2003 upon Kelly 's retirement . He led the company through a transformation called Alaska 2010 that was intended to insulate the airline from the traditional boom @-@ bust cycle of the airline industry . 
