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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/A of Alaska Airlines,
         Inc. for the period ended December 31, 2003;

2.       Based on my knowledge, this annual 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 annual 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 2003 fourth
         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 20, 2004                       By /s/ William S. Ayer
                                               -------------------------
                                            William S. Ayer
                                            Chairman, President & CEO