Honolulu, Hawaii: Hawaiian Airlines Cuts 48 Hawaii Jobs as Alaska Air Group Trims About 200 Roles

Alaska Air Group will eliminate 48 positions in Hawaii as part of a cut of about 200 non-contract jobs announced on Friday, October 30, according to Reuters and to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which obtained the internal email sent to employees on Friday morning. Hawaiian Airlines, which is based in Honolulu and is part of Alaska Air Group, accounts for the Hawaii share of the cuts.

Chief Executive Ben Minicucci told employees that higher jet fuel prices have put the company on course for a heavy loss. "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, in a memo seen by Reuters.

What the Hawaii cuts mean

Of the 48 affected positions at Hawaiian Airlines, 40 roles will be eliminated entirely, and eight people will be offered other jobs within the airline, Hawaiian Airlines Chief Executive Diana Birkett Rakow told staff in an email reported by the Star-Advertiser and AirlineGeeks. Two senior leaders, Jim Landers, head of Hawaii operations, and Shelly Parker, head of guest operations, will retire at the end of the year, and their positions will be removed.

The company said no frontline, non-management jobs are being eliminated. Across the group, 125 of the roughly 200 affected positions are in Washington state, and 48 are in Hawaii. The reductions affect less than 1 percent of the group's roughly 32,500 employees, a company spokesperson told Reuters.

The last working day for affected employees will be November 13, although they will continue to receive pay through December 31, along with severance and other support.

Fuel costs behind the move

Reuters reported that the cuts show how the fuel price shock hitting airlines is moving past higher fares and reduced schedules and into jobs. Alaska also revised its fourth quarter adjusted loss forecast to between $2.00 and $2.50 per share, well below an LSEG estimate of about $1.04 per share, a sign of how much pressure the group is under as it pursues premium and international expansion.

For Hawaii, the news lands at the state's largest airline group, and it lands in management ranks rather than at airport counters or on flight crews. The eight workers offered other roles, and the pay that runs through the end of the year, soften the timing for the families affected, but the 40 eliminated Hawaiian roles are gone for good under the plan announced Friday.

The group has not said which Hawaii departments lose the 40 eliminated roles. Affected employees are expected to learn their status as the November 13 separation date approaches.