Alaska Airlines Sole Airline Named to Information Week's First Ever Top 100 E-businesses

Business Wire, Dec 17, 1999

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 1999--

Information Week magazine has named Alaska Airlines to its E-Business 100 list.

The E-Business 100 is the first time Information Week has recognized companies achieving overall excellence in e-business initiatives. Alaska Airlines was the only airline named to the exclusive list.

"All companies making the E-Business 100 exemplify three overarching characteristics essential to e-business success -- strong leadership, business vision, and the capability to execute on strategy," said Judith Hurwitz, president and CEO of Hurwitz Group, which assessed and evaluated nominations with researchers and editors at Information Week.

Alaska Airlines ranked 20th on the list of the top 100 electronic-business innovators. Other companies ranking among the top 20 percent included traditional high-tech companies such as IBM (2), Cisco Systems (3), Dell Computer (6), Lucent Technologies (13), and Intel (18), as well as traditional brick and mortar companies like Office Depot (1) and The Home Depot (19).

"There's no doubt about it -- the Internet is changing the way we do business," said Bob Reeder, Alaska's vice president of information and communications services. "We're no longer just an airline; we're also an e-business company."

Information Week cited Alaska specifically for being the first U.S. airline to sell tickets online, as well as to allow customers to check-in via self-service kiosks known as Instant Travel Machines (ITMs).

Alaska began selling tickets online in December 1995. Today, 8 percent of all Alaska tickets are sold directly via the carrier's web site at www.alaskaair.com. Customers who purchase their tickets online can also check in online and print a boarding pass from the convenience of their office or home.

Shortly after Alaska introduced online ticket sales, the carrier installed the first ITM, allowing customers to bypass the ticket counter to check in and receive a boarding pass. Today, there are more than 260 ITMs installed at airport locations throughout the West Coast. And Alaska recently began installing ITMs at offsite locations including satellite parking lots and car rental facilities.

"In 1998 alone, more than one million passengers checked in for a flight at an ITM," Reeder said. "This year, we're well on track to have triple that number use an ITM. That alone represents more than 40 percent of all customers traveling on an electronic ticket purchased directly from us or from a travel agent."

This marks the second time this year that Alaska has been touted by Information Week as a technology leader. Previously, in August, the magazine featured the airline prominently on its cover for an article on companies on the leading edge of technology.

As of June 2000, Alaska Airlines will serve 43 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico when it begins service to Chicago. Recently, readers of Travel & Leisure magazine voted the carrier the "World's Best Domestic Airline," while readers of Conde Nast Traveler voted the carrier the best major U.S. airline.