Hawaiian Airlines Pilots Have To Shave Their Beards, Ending Rare Exception

Hawaiian Airlines pilots with beards will have to shave them off, and some aren’t too happy about that, as reported by AirlineGeeks…

Alaska Air Group updates pilot appearance standards

Hawaiian is now part of Alaska Air Group, and the two carriers are working on integrating their labor groups. Despite plans to maintain two separate brands, on the back-end, the goal is for the airlines to operate as one. As part of that, Alaska Air Group is rolling out updated uniform and appearance standards for pilots at the two brands.

As of this month (April 2026), Hawaiian pilots are no longer allowed to have beards. As Alaska System Chief Pilot Scott Day described this “significant” change, “going forward, facial hair must meet specific requirements to ensure compliance with FAA guidance and flight deck safety and beards will not be authorized.” With the updates, a well-groomed mustache remains approved, so this is specific to beards.

In a separate follow-up message, the company’s Vice President of Flight Operations, Dave Mets, wrote that “I recognize this is an important issue for many and do not want to be insensitive or vague about it in any way,” adding that “I fully understand that this is a policy decision many of you do not and may never agree with.” He also noted that “our safest and most compliant path forward was to prohibit beards in the flight deck in our combined uniform policy.”

What’s the issue with airline pilots having beards?

Broadly speaking, there are two main considerations with airline uniform and appearance standards — it’s partly about how the company wants employees to present themselves, but it’s also about safety.

In this case, safety seems to be the primary consideration. Regulators have long had concerns about the use of oxygen masks by pilots with beards, with oxygen mask manufacturers recommending against beards in the flight deck. The concern is that facial hair can cause mask leaks.

The FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute recently “reaffirmed its long-standing recommendation that for safety reasons, beards should not be allowed in the flight deck.” This isn’t some new controversy, though. Quite to the contrary, the FAA has had guidance about this dating all the way back to 1987.

I guess up until now, Hawaiian has chosen not to go along with this recommendation, perhaps partly for cultural reasons. That’s why Alaska Air Group executives note that there’s “absolutely no desire or intention to diminish the way Hawaiian Airlines and/or Hawaiian culture is celebrated and respected within our combined company.” However, as the two brands align policies, I guess it’s logical that Alaska doesn’t want to eliminate this requirement for pilots at Alaska, so…

It’s worth noting that claims about safety concerns over masks for those with beards have also been disputed. In 2024, an Embry-Riddle study found no evidence of facial hair causing mask leaks. Nonetheless, Alaska Air Group is clearly trying to err on the side of caution, even if it’s somewhat contested.

As Alaska Air Group executives implement this policy, they’re even noting the importance of following best practices with masks based on how “our own very recent experience with Alaska Flight 1282 demonstrated the seriousness of this topic as our pilots had to don their O2 masks due to the rapid decompression that occurred.”

Bottom line

As of April 2026, Hawaiian Airlines pilots are no longer allowed to have beards, ending a decades-long policy. Instead, they can only have mustaches. Ultimately this is a policy change that we’ve seen at many airlines over the years, with the main concern being air leaking while oxygen masks are used.

Hawaiian seemingly kept this policy for cultural reasons, but as Alaska Air Group introduces unified policies for pilots, it’s not surprising that the airline is cracking down on this.

What do you make of Hawaiian’s updated beard policy for pilots?