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EXHIBIT 31.1


                                 CERTIFICATIONS


      I, William S. Ayer, certify that:

      1.     I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Alaska
             Airlines, Inc. for the period ended March 31, 2004;

      2.     Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
             untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material
             fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
             circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
             with respect to the period covered by this report;

      3.     Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
             financial information included in this quarterly report, fairly
             present in all material respects the financial condition, results
             of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the
             periods presented in this report;

      4.     The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
             establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
             defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
             registrant and we have:

             a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
             disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
             supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
             registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
             to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
             period in which this report is being prepared;

             b) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
             controls and procedures and presented in this report our
             conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
             procedures, as of March 31, 2004, based on such evaluation; and

             c) disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
             control over financial reporting that occurred during the
             registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
             affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
             registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

      5.    The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
            based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
            financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
            committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons
            performing the equivalent functions):

            a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
            design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
            which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
            ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
            information; and

            b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
            internal control over financial reporting.




             May 11, 2004             By   /s/ William S. Ayer
                                      ------------------------------------
                                      William S. Ayer
                                      Chairman, President & CEO