Come fly with me: seasonal air carriers add options and compete.

• Author: Hollander, Zaz
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Transportation

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Ah, summer in Alaska: Long days. Bug dope. Soaring over the North Pole to Europe. Getting deals on trips to Seattle.

A growing number of seasonal airlines fly routes to and from Alaska only in the summer, including Condor, the German carrier that ferries international travelers "over the top" to Europe from May through October.

Other year-round carriers increase routes to include summer-only destinations. Alaska Airlines adds flights but also ramps up offerings to Alaskans.

This year's seasonal schedule continues an increase that started in 2012 at Anchorage and Fairbanks with new routes from existing carriers JetBlue Airways, Delta, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines.

New this year at the state's largest airport: a nonstop to San Francisco from Virgin America.

Then there's Icelandair, which starts flying nonstop from Anchorage to Reykjavik in May. From that hub, Icelandair offers connections to more than twenty places in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe.

But don't thank Alaskans for most of this increased seasonal interest.

"None of these additional flights have anything to do with Alaskans, just so there's no mythology there about how great we are or how big of travelers," says Scott McMurren, a travel marketing consultant who publishes the website alaskatravelgram.com.

McMurren isn't knocking Alaskans. He's just making a point: given our relatively small population, most of these carriers target people flying to--not from--our fine state.

Just look at a JetBlue blog post on its Long Beach to Anchorage route: "Looking to beat the heat this summer? Grab a seat to the coolest destination in our network, Alaska ... "

Alaska Airlines: Ready for Competition

JetBlue comes into Anchorage in mid-May with just one flight to Seattle. That single flight has "absolutely turned the market upside down," McMurren says. "By comparison, on that day Alaska Airlines will offer seventeen flights between Anchorage and Seattle, two flights from Anchorage to Portland, one Anchorage to Los Angeles, and two Anchorage to Chicago. It's an empire."

Headquartered in Seattle, Alaska carries more passengers between the state of Alaska and the Lower 48 than any other airline. They fly to twenty airports within the state and have an average of 130 daily departures.

Alaska Air is adding all sorts of perks and flights this summer, a corporate representative said.

Among them:

* New, 181-seat 737-900ER aircraft on "key flights" in the Anchorage-Seattle market.

* Expanded Anchorage-Los Angeles service that started in April that includes a daily daytime flight most of the year and an additional...