Alaska Air Group cuts 46 Hawaiʻi positions, including one at Kahului Airport; 8 employees offered different roles

Alaska Air Group is eliminating 46 Hawaiʻi positions and offering eight isle-based employees different roles, citing soaring fuel costs and rising overhead as it cuts about 200 non-contract jobs companywide, the company confirmed to Maui Now.

Alaska’s third-quarter earnings release, issued Oct. 20, showed fuel cost per gallon up 57% from a year earlier. The company said it expects $1.8 billion more in fuel expense this year than it planned.

One of the eliminated Hawaiʻi positions was at Kahului, said Alex Da Silva, Alaska Airlines’ regional communications director. Some employees commute to Honolulu from Neighbor Islands, including Maui, but Da Silva did not have a count of how many affected employees do so.

The reductions also include 125 positions in Washington state, where Alaska is headquartered, Da Silva said. Alaska Air Group has about 32,500 employees, and all the affected roles are non-contract. In a message to employees Friday, Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said no frontline, non-management positions were affected.

The layoffs take effect Nov. 13. Affected employees will be paid through Dec. 31 and will receive severance and transition support, according to the company. Da Silva said employees received 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices Friday, and that Alaska filed a notice with the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations the same day.

Two Hawaiʻi leaders retiring

In a message to Hawaiian Airlines employees, Hawaiian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Diana Birkett Rakow said Jim Landers, head of Hawaiʻi operations, and Shelly Parker, head of Hawaiʻi guest operations, will retire at the end of the year. Da Silva confirmed their positions are being eliminated.

“Decisions like these carry great weight, because they impact people we care about,” Birkett Rakow wrote, adding that the company must be “clear-eyed about challenges and thoughtful stewards” of the business. Hawaiʻi and the Hawaiian Airlines brand remain central to Air Group’s long-term strategy, she said.

Fuel costs and overhead

Minicucci told employees that fuel prices and geopolitical challenges are putting significant financial pressure on the airline. “If current conditions persist, we could lose as much as $700 million this year, which would be our first adjusted pretax loss outside of the pandemic since 2003,” he wrote.

He also said the company needs to take a hard look at overhead, which has grown at a disproportionate rate to revenue in recent years. Birkett Rakow similarly said overhead costs have grown faster than the airline’s flying.

Alaska forecast a full-year adjusted loss of $5 to $5.50 per share in its earnings release and held an investor call Oct. 21. The release also cited “Hawaiʻi headwinds” as a pressure on third-quarter unit revenue.

The company said the cuts are not connected to its acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings. Alaska completed the $1.9 billion purchase in September 2024.