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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                 CERTIFICATIONS

I, William S. Ayer, certify that:

1.     I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Alaska Airlines, Inc.
       for the period ended December 31, 2003;

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 December
       31, 2003, 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 (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the
       case of an annual report) 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 function):

       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.

       March 12, 2004                        By /s/ William S. Ayer
                                                --------------------------------
                                             William S. Ayer
                                             Chairman, President & CEO