" alt="Alaska Airlines completes acquisition of Hawaiian Air" width="2560" height="1706" data-lazy-srcset="https://business.inquirer.net/files/2024/09/Alaska-Airlines-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://business.inquirer.net/files/2024/09/Alaska-Airlines-620x

As his bush plane circled the craggy peaks of the Alaska Range, the explorer Bradford Washburn peered down and had a burning thought. Coursing down the southern slopes of Denali and Mount Silverthrone were the accumulated snows of thousands of winte