A year ago, Alaska Air Group put two senior executives at the helm of Hawaii operations and the guest experience for its newly combined airline. Alaska said the Honolulu leadership team would support the Hawaiian Airlines brand as the two carriers come together. Now both executives are retiring, and their positions will be eliminated.
The timing caught our attention. On October 29, 2025, Alaska formally activated the Honolulu leadership positions as the airlines began operating under a single FAA certificate. On October 30, 2026, the company announced another round of management cuts, including eliminating both jobs. It’s an unusually quick reversal for positions Alaska had specifically established to oversee its Hawaii operation.
The announcement comes as Alaska warns of a possible $700 million adjusted pretax loss for 2026 and eliminates approximately 200 management positions companywide. While the layoffs have received widespread attention, the disappearance of two roles meant to help shape Hawaiian’s future raises a more specific question about how the airline will now be run in Hawaii.
The Honolulu leadership structure lasted just one year.
We reported on Alaska’s newly appointed Honolulu leadership team in July 2025, when the company named longtime Hawaiian executive Jim Landers to head Hawaii operations. Landers had joined Hawaiian in 2013 and previously served as senior vice president of technical operations, overseeing maintenance, engineering, and other functions central to keeping the airline running.
In August, Alaska appointed Shelly Parker to oversee Hawaii guest operations. Parker brought 43 years of airline experience, much of it with Alaska and Horizon Air, where she had overseen airport and in-flight operations. Based in Honolulu and reporting to Landers, she was assigned to work with Hawaii-based airport and flight crews on the guest experience.
These were not just two leftover jobs from Hawaiian’s former management structure. Alaska created the combined-airline responsibilities and presented the appointments as part of its commitment to maintaining Hawaiian’s distinctive service and identity.
Now Landers and Parker have decided to retire at year-end. Hawaiian CEO Diana Birkett Rakow told employees that their positions would be eliminated as part of the latest restructuring. The executives are leaving voluntarily, but Alaska is also removing the jobs they held.
Another round of cuts comes with a much bigger financial warning.
Alaska announced Friday that it is cutting about 200 non-contract management positions across the company, including 48 affected positions in Hawaii. According to the employee communications reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 40 Hawaii jobs are being eliminated and eight affected employees are being offered other positions.
Employees facing separation are scheduled to finish working November 13, although pay will continue through December 31, with severance and transition assistance available. The airline says no frontline, non-management positions are affected in this round.
The financial backdrop is substantial. Alaska Air Group reported a $147 million net loss for the third quarter, even as revenue increased 14% to $4.3 billion. Fuel costs are expected to run approximately $1.8 billion above the company’s original 2026 plan.
CEO Ben Minicucci warned employees that the company could lose as much as $700 million on an adjusted pretax basis this year if current conditions continue. That projection applies to Alaska Air Group as a whole, not Hawaiian Airlines separately. The company also reported $3.3 billion in available liquidity at the end of September, so the warning should not be confused with an immediate threat to its ability to operate.
Alaska says Friday’s reductions are not directly related to its acquisition of Hawaiian. That differs from the earlier Hawaiian headquarters and management cuts we reported, which were explicitly associated with the integration.
In fact, an October 2 state filing covering another 13 Hawaiian positions specifically identified the Alaska acquisition as the reason for those reductions. Friday’s announcement attributed the cuts instead to high fuel costs, rising overhead, and the need to streamline management.
Two separate rounds of cuts, less than a month apart, have different stated explanations. Across six rounds since the acquisition, 479 WARN notices have been issued to Hawaiian employees, although about 383 had already left before the latest round. Hawaiian has also hired more than 1,500 employees during that period and continues to employ over 6,000 in Hawaii.
Hawaiian’s expensive improvements are still moving ahead.
This financial picture has another side. Alaska continues to pursue major investments in Hawaiian’s aircraft, airport facilities, and passenger experience, even as it reduces management overhead.
The company’s five-year Kahu’ewai Hawaii Investment Plan commits more than $600 million to improvements ranging from airport modernization to technology and aircraft interiors. Construction has already begun on the nearly 13,000-square-foot premium Honolulu lounge, expected to open in 2028.
Hawaiian’s Airbus A330 fleet is also scheduled for extensive cabin renovations beginning in 2028, adding new business-class suites and premium economy seating while reducing the number of standard economy seats. Meanwhile, the airline plans to replace its Boeing 717 interisland fleet with refurbished Boeing 737-800 aircraft, a change we examined when Hawaiian’s familiar two-seat side was confirmed to be disappearing.
Those investments remain publicly announced commitments. Alaska has not said the latest management cuts will cancel them or push back their schedules, and its October financial reporting continued to emphasize premium travel, international expansion and the guest experience.
The company is clearly trying to reduce operating costs without abandoning the investments it believes will produce future revenue. Whether it can deliver all those improvements while absorbing substantial financial losses remains an open business question, rather than evidence that any particular promise has already been broken.
Who takes responsibility for Hawaiian’s guest experience now?
The departure of Landers and Parker does not mean Hawaiian is losing its entire Honolulu leadership team. Birkett Rakow remains Hawaiian’s CEO, and the company still has senior executives based in Hawaii responsible for other key functions.
What hasn’t been publicly explained is where the responsibilities of these two eliminated positions will go. Landers oversaw Hawaii operational performance, while Parker’s responsibilities included airport and inflight teams. Those functions must continue, whether they’re redistributed among existing Hawaii executives or handled through the larger company’s management structure.
For passengers, the unanswered question matters most for airport operations and customer service. When flight disruptions occur, when airport procedures change, or when something isn’t working as promised, who will have the authority and responsibility to address those problems specifically for Hawaiian travelers?
We raised questions about the future of Hawaii-based decision-making when Alaska announced the Honolulu team last year. The airline now has a functioning combined operation, but two of the senior positions established to help manage that transition are disappearing after only a year.
There is no evidence these retirements will change service or that decisions previously handled in Honolulu will automatically move to Seattle. We would like to know how Alaska intends to replace the oversight those executives provided, especially as Hawaiian’s passenger experience continues to change.
Have you noticed any differences in how Hawaiian handles airport service, flight disruptions, or onboard hospitality since the acquisition? We’d be interested in what you’ve experienced, whether things have improved, deteriorated, or remained much the same as before.
By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.
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