Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) is set to go head to head with Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) in Seattle Tacoma International after CFO Paul Jacobson referenced plans to turn Seattle into a hub.

According to TravelWeekly, Delta initiated plans to develop its Seattle hub last year with the creation of a new executive position: vice president-Seattle. Since then, it has announced plans to dramatically boost services to San Francisco, Los Angeles International, Las Vegas Harry Reid, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Vancouver International, Portland International, San Diego International and San José, US by year end.

In addition, the news report adds, Delta will be removing its code from Alaska's flights linking Seattle with Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, Vancouver, Anchorage, Portland and Phoenix — presumably to avoid competing with flights on its own metal on those routes.

In response, Alaska has ramped up its daily flights from Seattle to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco. The announcement earlier this year of flights to Salt Lake City and Detroit Metropolitan - both Delta hubs - are seen as "retaliatory". Additionally, Alaska intends to deepen its relationship with American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) from whom codesharing brought in USD165million in revenue.