What can you expect when a Seattle-based behemoth airline acquires a nearly century-old Honolulu-based company? The merger of Hawaiian Airlines into Alaska Air Group has entered a new phase, with initial layoffs affecting non-union Hawaiian Airlines employees. For Beat of Hawaii, this move isn’t unexpected.
We were present at the merger announcement, where Alaska’s CEO, Ben Minicucci, openly acknowledged that some job redundancies would be inevitable. Among these anticipated changes were the departures of Hawaiian’s CEO Peter Ingram (pictured above) and Chief Marketing Officer Avi Mannis, signaling more profound operational shifts. As reader Kev pointed out, Ingram received a golden parachute departure, which employees did not.
But as Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines align their operations, what else might this mean for travelers planning a Hawaii vacation?
Streamlining operations without losing Hawaiian’s identity.
Hawaiian Airlines is known for its unique local touch in its service. However, operational streamlining is almost inevitable with any merger of this scale. And much of that has long been needed at Hawaiian, which has suffered from a lack of technology and its foreign call center.
The current layoffs are part of Alaska Air Group’s effort to reduce redundancies. Alongside awaited streamlining, some culture change must inevitably occur.
Blending Hawaiian’s distinct service style with Alaska’s broader, mainland-focused, high-tech approach presents challenges for travelers. Some changes may be noticeable as the brands align, even as Alaska has committed to retaining Hawaiian’s brand identity. This means that while travelers can still expect a familiar experience, integration will continue to bring changes behind the scenes.
Leadership shifts and what they mean for visitors.
Ingram and Mannis played central roles in defining Hawaiian Airlines’ brand and approach to the visitor experience. Their departures as part of the merger may change how Hawaiian caters to travelers headed to the islands. Now guiding Hawaiian’s transition, Alaska’s leadership brings a mainland-focused perspective that could affect nearly everything in the future.
A road map for what’s ahead post-merger.
While 73 non-union jobs are set to be cut by December, this is likely just the start of a phased integration. Hawaiian currently employs around 1,400 non-union positions across corporate, administrative, and operational support areas, roles that will undergo further review.
For now, Hawaiian and Alaska operate separately under one holding company, each with its reservations, loyalty, and service functions. By sometime next year, the airlines will begin operating as a single entity, and any further impacts on the traveler experience will become clearer.
While initial changes are in motion, the immediate impact on visitors may be minimal. Alaska’s leadership appears intent on a smooth transition, but travelers should stay prepared for some bumps along the way. And a new hybrid culture seeking to blend Hawaiian’s culture with Alaska’s expertise.
We welcome your thoughts.
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My husband and I just took our vacation to Maui for a week via Hawaiian Airlines, only it didn’t go as expected. We would have left from San Diego airport, which is under a load of construction, but due to a lack of TSA agents on duty and tons of people in line, we only made it to the gate at 9:57 am for a flight HA 57 that was to leave at 10:10. My heart pounding I told the gate agent that we were held up in customs but have our boarding passes and one carryon and she said, “it’s too late, the door to the plane is closed and we can’t let you on. I begged her to check with someone about letting us on while the plane just was sitting there, but she said “you’ll have to go tomorrow”. I couldn’t believe my ears and worst yet she couldn’t book us for the next day and told us to get there early tomorrow to see if we could get one of the 7 seats left. Is this customer service?
As a long time Hawaiian Airlines patron I am concerned how these layoffs will affect local Hawaiian employees and the local economies of the various islands. We on the mainland have employment opportunities not always available to those on the various Hawaiian Islands. A lot of those that live on the Hawaiian Islands often have more than one job in order to make a living. While the moves towards making these decisions may make sense on a corporate level I fear they are made without a consideration of the impact they have on the non union employees and their families.
Arrived in Oahu on Sarurday. Was dissappointed in Hawsiian Airlines. Have flown several times with them. Stewards and stewardesses were not friendly and never a smile. Stuck on plane at dsbarding gate for an hour untill somebody figured out to move the plane forward four feet. Just not the same old Hawaiian Airlines. Hope Alaska Airlines makes improvements.
Did you ever think that maybe there was something wrong with the jet way ?
I fly HA all the time because it is a direct flight. Several things are not important to me as a traveler. I don’t care to hear announcements in Hawaiian. No one understands them except for a select few…. I don’t care for all the menu selections to be Asian oriented or done by local chefs in Honolulu. Like with some European carriers, I”d like to be able to preorder meals and pay for them myself. (ATA used to have a great cheeseburger) The flowers on board in the bathrooms are a nice touch. Hawaiian music is fine. The lounges except for the Plumaria lounge in Honolulu are just a way to get away from the crowds… Any special livery changes like “Moana” are just a waste of money. Priority tagged bags should come out first, not last…
Lynette,
If you are unhappy with the Asian oriented food, Hawaiian being spoken on the airplane maybe you should think about flying Southwest .
We are planning a flight to the Big Island from Phoenix in mid February. I see with the merger activity some of the airlines have affordable pricing. I don’t normally fly American but I notice the basic economy tickets are attractive. Any idea what one would have to pay to buy seats on those flights?
I have already been impacted with the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger. Had a morning flight to Oahu on Alaska Airlines from San Jose. Alaska Airlines morning flight got cancelled and they changed it to a night time departure. I called Alaska Airlines and was able to change to another morning flight but on Hawaiian Airlines instead. At not charge.
I think the worst thing coming from this merger is the perks of being a Hawaii Elite MasterCard credit cardholder being phased out because Alaska utilizes a different bank is utterly unfortunate, and a drawback to the persons using it.
I hope everything goes smoothly. Will Hawaiian points still be in effect for March of 2025?
I don’t think Alaska Airlines should remove the Hawaiian Cultures
from its service.
The great heart felt Aloha that the employees extend to their travelers is what makes things so comfortable.
Lot of personal bias in all the posts here, (including mine!)but the simple fact is HA got hammered by Covid and their dire financial situation was not of their own doing. The layoffs of those with job redundancies are far less painful for the employees (and the traveling public!) than a Chapter 11 reorganization would have been for everyone. This is a merger that combines a lot of synergies that will create a much brighter future for the employees of both airlines.
Always good comments from you – and I agree w/ 99.99% of the sentiments – but HAL management has been the airline’s own worst enemy for a long, long time. COVID just pushed them over the edge – a bankruptcy woulda’ happened w/out COVID rearing its ugly congested head.
And “mergers” Never create “more jobs” in the near-term. “Synergies” – yes – but that’s management-speak for cutting costs and it seldom translates and trickles down when you’ve just lost your job. Takes years for the union/non-union workforce to catch up to where they were pre-merge.
BTDT … I’ve worked/flown in a “bankruptcy” state and the passengers never noticed a difference.
Actually Dickie, Mark Dunkerley retired in 2019 after 15 years as CEO. His reign was by far Hawaiians most successful years. Solidly profitable, they accrued close to one billion in cash and minimal debt load while he headed the company. Their stock actually hit 60 a share. In fact one year they had the highest operating profit margin in the industry. Their International expansion was a smart move and Japan was their most profitable routes by far. We’ll see what happens but I’m in the camp that believes Alaska knows what they are doing and will maximize the synergies this merger brings. When Japan comes back Alaska will kill it with the Hawaiian brand in that market…..Time will tell!
We fly Hawaiian each year. Service is outstanding. Never flown Alaskan but rumor was not a good airline. Time will tell if they improve. Improvement starts from the foundation hopefully upper management listens to concerns of their employees.
Brenda
It’s Alaska not Alaskan.
Don’t listen to rumors.
Alaska is a great airline with wonderful service and employees .
The company has received numerous awards to prove it.
I just received my latest copy of Consumer Reports(Nov/Dec) and HAL is listed as best airline in the US.
Alaska number 2.
The combination of the current number one and two airlines should create quite an interesting company…If they proceed as promised. Cautiously optimistic…..
Ingram works for the shareholders and the board and ultimately shareholders set his compensation including any payments upon his departure . Hawaiian was in trouble financially that was plain to see. The price he and the board got per share was fair – in fact quite high under the circumstances .
I flew on Hawaiian Airlines for the first time and the experience was wonderful. I hope the changes are minimal.
Gee … I wonder who “predicted” layoffs at HAL as a result of any prospective “merger” — and called it beaucoup months ago — and got blown off by some who have never been “in the game” ?
Maybe it was a “guy” who has been through 3 “merger$$” and 2 bankruptcie$$ during his 30 year airline career … ?? Naahhh … what do those kine’ guys know ??
They never listen to ol’ Capt. DICKIE_D, do they ? (smiles)
And the leading edge of the coming layoff wave will arrive just in time for Christmas ?? Wow .. Mahalo and Mele Kalikimaka or what .. ?
Well I have to respectfully disagree Dickie…..as you see by my other post, there were other options that could have been far worse and as someone who has also been in the game (42 years with multiple airlines, wholly cats I’m old!) we both know this is a tough business…I just hope the folks laid off have opportunities for them at Alaska. My experience has been often times things that seem like bad luck turn out to be the start of something better. Fingers crossed that’s the case here.
Same-o, same-o, Bruddah’ — all respect. But in this case, we’ll just have to respectfully agree to disagree on this one point, i.e. employee prospects in general after bankruptcies.
I’ve been through 2 airline bankruptcies and I’m one of the few that I know who actually “moved up” in seats and aircraft all the way to retirement at another airline – which is tough to do when you start off at the bottom of any seniority list. Lots of pilots (or any job classification) on the street and in the hunt for fewer available jobs.
Timing, as always. But I’d rather be “lucky” than “good” anyday, anyway … (smile)
Actually, we’re “tied” with years in that aerial barrel-roll … I started flying at 18 … then did 22 years (Active Duty and Reserves) in the USN … and 30 in “The Show” (some of that was concurrent, of course) – almost 30K hours in the logbook. And if I could – I’d go back and do it all again, only hopefully “smarter” .
I wouldn’t say it’s a merger. I believe it’s an acquisition, they paid 1 billion dollars ( which many financial analysts said Alaska over paid) to acquire Hawaiian. Good luck to all the employees, there will be many duplicate jobs & those redundancies will need to be addressed financially. It will be a very sad day when the Hawaiian HDQ will be moved to Seattle.
Not a “merger” ???
You are exactly right … and that’s why I put the ” …. ” around the word in my post.
Good headwork and clear thinking on your part, Bruddah’ …
I have a Hawaiian credit card that gives me certain perks such as no baggage fees. Will these perks transfer to Alaskan or do I need to get one of their cards too?
Sorry but it’s Alaska not Alaskan.
Maybe Alaska Airlines can change their name to Alaska”n”, as in Hawaiia”n”, America”n”, Easter”n” ? Less confusion that way. Just sayin’.
Afraid I am going to miss the Hawaiian airlines that was. It always felt like our aloha vacation had started the minute we stepped on the aircraft. I don’t see Southwest continuing these routes much longer with all their current problems. Looks like it will be American and Alaska.
I strongly believe that Hawaiian Air needed for the longest time realigning due to airline employee laziness. I live in Hawaii and only fly Alaska Air. I pay a premium to fly and expect very little but Hawaiian air employees need to put out a premium work ethic. We stopped flying HA several times in the past and would always try them again but still crappie service.
Aloha, the only thing I want to see, are the same or better booking for a fare. I always got Brilliant Customer Service from Hawaiian Airlines.
❤️❤️
I’m not sure a majority of people appreciate the little things Hawaiian does (did). The music, atmosphere, etc. comes at a cost. We were Hawaiian loyalists until we noticed we were paying A LOT more for these atmospherics than, say, a typical Alaska flight. To save $300 to $400 round trip, jumping to Alaska was no problem for us – goodbye ‘ambience’ on a jet. Don’t really need it. Others went completely no-frills to Southwest and were happy with it. The reality is: If you want the perks, you pay extra. Next it becomes a business decision on whether or not there is a market for people who would fork over extra money for Hawaiian music on the speakers.
Hawaii is a strange state. CEO Ingram is paid $13 million for destroying Hawaiian Air and selling out to predatory “shark” Alaska.
No Synergy for the unemployed now and next year.
What is the Pidgin word for conman?
Hawaiians are ok with this?
“Shark” Rob?? Perhaps you missed the picture of the SWA liveried shark in the BOH SWA predator story? SWA entered the market as proudly predatory at the time. Alaska had entered the market quite differently and simply offered very good service. Alaska has approached this merger with class and insight in what appears is a sincere attempt to create a win/win scenario for all. Time will tell but it’s quite unusual in the history of airline mergers. Your SWA was a nightmare with AirTran, but not as bad as USAir and AmWest! Calling Alaska a “Shark” is a bit of gaslighting coming from the SWA perspective.
Cost of living in Seattle is less than Hawaii so cut the Hawaiian locals and rehire personnel out of Seattle area. That way Alaska saves a few bucks on cost of living raises and an employee’s home is Seattle area. I would rather get a Alaskan elk burger served to me than a Hawaiian Spam burger any day. You will really know what happens if all the flight attendants rehired are native to Alaska. Good luck.
I know many of us know this but it seems that a lot of people responding here think that because they like the “service” and Hawaiian ambiance or meals mean that Alaska will put value on those things. They will not. Free meals do not make money, Alaska doesn’t offer free meals in economy and barely offers meals in first class anymore. Don’t expect any meals for free in Hawaiian. I’d also expect to see IFE disappear in favor of WiFi and your own device.
Alaska has 6 years to provide interisland service at reasonable/ current levels per the merger language. You can expect that if they loose money on it, it will be gone and they do have a clause in the merger that allows them to adjust interisland flights if economics work against them, clever.
On the IT side and the app, the Alaska air app is very good, I use it all the time with no issues.
Also in response to a previous comment, Alaska does not have any foreign call centers, never have.
I fly to the islands 2 to 3 times a year and would not think of flying any other airline than Hawaiian. I feel like I am on vacation the minute I get on that plane. If they change the uniqueness of the airline, they will be just like any other airline out there. I have flown Alaska and they are a great airline. I know that changes are inevitable, but please keep Hawaiian flights unique.
Sadly anything better then a soviet sytle of service will be history.
They use to hand out mitia’s b4 landing in ha. Yeah that got cost save bonused away over a decade ago.
For all AS claims about tech it’s awful. Case in point 2 yrs ago I tried to cancel an award tkt, but the cut rate foreign it workers only coded a call customer service line message, which took days to return calls, after dozens of attempts, like a few hrs b4 the flight was to depart. Even tried going to the airport to noavail. They should have
partnerd with an IT cloud that could provide capacity on demand
but where’s the cost save bonus and max ceo comp in doing so?Plus it sounds better to blame the weather then say our ceo is very greedy so just deal with terrible service you serf er customer.
After going through one of the worst flight experiences using Alaskan Airlines to Anchorage and back to California, our family vowed to never fly with them again. The only thing they offered as an apology for the terrible service and scary flight experience was a discount voucher to fly with them…again. It is with high skepticism that our family will be using their services in the near future for our island flights. We pray to be pleasantly surprised and not an “I could have predicted this” reality.
The initial round of layoffs was the perennial fear, in the past, of any mainland airline coming to Hawaii and taking over one of the local carriers. So far, the hue and cry of the layoffs seems to be muted, just like it was during the DOJ and DOT saga of approving the merger in the first place.
Now we can see what Alaska would like to do to streamline Hawaiian’s operations and more fully integrate them into the “Alaska umbrella” if you will. Let us see how long the tolerance of these adjustments lasts with both customers and employees watching carefully.
“Blending Hawaiian’s distinct service style…”. Hmm. We are frequent flyers on Hawaiian, traveling to Maui every few months. I’m uncertain what is meant by “Hawaiian’s distinctive service style”. Except for the pre-takeoff music, the leis worn by the cabin staff, some Hawaiian choices of video and the small packages of macadamia nuts, I don’t see any distinction that sets Hawaiian apart from other carriers. There is no question that the flight attendants are great.
Good ridens.. Hawaiian air is horrible already. And Alaska Air is worse than Hawaiian…lol…
I sure would like to know why you think Alaska is so bad.
Alaska isn’t bad at all, they are just very focused, savvy and they do not mess around with ancillary services that don’t make money. I didn’t say anything that was not true, Alaska does not serve meals in coach, its all buy on board and that said, their buy on board is pretty extensive. First class does sometimes get meals but they have pared down the window in which flights must depart in order to get a hot meal and that window is very small. They have also raised the minimum stage length where those meals are offered. Flights that seem longish like Palm Springs to Seattle do not get meals and there is no meal service on any Skywest or Horizon operated flight on the Embraers or CRJs.
Alaska has never had IFE except when they inherited the Virgin America A320s and A321s. Those of course were disposed of. I fly Alaska often and they are fine, the GoGo WiFi is okay, many of the ERJs and CRJs don’t have it while a handful do.
Thats all I have room for here!
Except it isn’t. You sound like someone who thinks Southwest is top notch
Will the air bus plane from Seattle to Maui still be in service? I Ally. Really prefer the first class of Hawaiian airlines over Alaskan. I am referring to flights 29 and 30.
Will air miles be good for both airlines?
I sincerely hope that Alaska will retain the aloha spirit upon boarding the plane to the islands. We have always loved the Hawaiian atmosphere as soon as we entered the aircraft with the music and flowered shirts, good Hawaii inspired food.
Alaska better not get rid of the Hawaiian music, entertainment and free meal for all travelers.
They 86’d a free cocktail b4 landing in hi for cost save bonus. Free and max ceo comp #1 As goal are mutually exclusive.
I feel for any of the local folks who will no longer be employed by Hawaiian. However, that does mean that a lot more jobs will be saved, as Hawaiian was hemorrhaging money. Reducing redundancies hopefully will make them profitable.
Honestly, the flights I’ve taken on Alaska have been excellent. I found the crew to be warm, sharing what I would say is the Alaska version of Aloha. Better than any other domestic US airline.
I’m hoping that Alaska’s existing company culture mixed in with some genuine Hawaiian Aloha, will make for an amazing and successful combination.
Hawaiian’s last CEO, Peter Ingram, was paid $13 Million to leave. And now Hawaiian’s crew is getting axed… no golden parachute for any of them.
Who did not see this coming?
Covid hurt Hawaiian big time .. Being a leisure destination airline recovery was slow due to the Japan market not rebounding.. After Covid inflation & the weak Yen killed any chances of the lucrative Japan travel market to Hawaii .. Flights were cut and any chance for Hawaiian to turn the corner was pretty much dead .. Hawaiian could not be profitable .. Southwest entering the Hawaii market caused a fare war causing more financial woes ..For Interisland to be profitable fares need to be close to the 100.00 mark .. Not popular for sure but that’s the bottom line .. Days of 50.00 fares are long gone . Is there anything that costs the same from 20 years ago !!