- On one side is Alaska, headquartered in the Seattle area since the 1940s. On the other, Delta, the Atlanta-based legacy carrier with plans to expand. Pitting an airline as big as Delta, which flew more than 170 million passengers last year, against Alaska, which carried only 29 million, may seem like a David and Goliath pairing. But Alaska currently dominates the Seattle market, accounting for about 51 percent of flights into and out of the city. The two airlines have operated as partners for decades, but now the partnership has hit the skids.