Horizon Airlines
Horizon Air is a sister airline to larger carrier Alaska Airlines. Though Alaska Airlines owns Horizon entirely, each company is now officially owned by Alaska Air Group, a holding company created by Alaska Airlines. In addition to its flights for Alaska Air, Horizon also operates as a regional carrier for other major airlines like Continental, Northwest, and KLM. Horizon also briefly operated as a regional carrier for low cost airline Frontier.

The Horizon Airline Company Story
Horizon Airlines’ maiden flight took place in 1981, with a flight from Seattle, Washington, to Yakima, Washington. Horizon slowly expanded to cover other routes in the Pacific Northwest, and it soon caught the attention of larger carrier Alaskan Airlines. Alaska Airline’s holding company, Alaska Air Group purchased Horizon in 1986. Alaska did not absorb Horizon Airline’s flights and routes into its own schedule however, and allowed Horizon to continue to operate under its own name. Horizon operated regional commuter jet services for Alaska Airlines throughout the 1980s, and eventually, Alaska Airlines began to arrange for code sharing regional commuter flight deals for Horizon with other major carriers. Horizon now flies code share regional commuter flights for Continental, Northwest, and KLM.

In a deal that was unusual for small airline, low cost airline Frontier began using Horizon for shorter, commuter routes on services they called Frontier JetExpress. This arrangement ended in 2006, after three years.

Horizon Airlines Destinations
Horizon Airlines flies to a total of 51 destinations in the US, Mexico, and Canada, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Calgary, San Jose, Seattle, and Pullman Moscow airport in Washington. The airline expects to expand its destinations with Alaska Air and with its other partners throughout 2007. Passengers who fly to destinations in Mexico can connect on to South American countries like Brazil though Alaska Air/Horizon Air partners.

Horizon Airline Fares
To check out Horizon Airline fares to the 26 destinations they fly to with Alaska airlines, visit the Horizon Airline/Alaska Airline joint web site. On the Horizon Airlines website, you can check out route maps, flight schedules, and special Horizon Airlines clearance fare rates. The site is quite large, so to see how it breaks down, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air site map.