In September 2024, Alaska Airlines takeover of Hawaiian Airlines officially closed. While Hawaiian Airlines has been part of Alaska Air Group since then, the integration has been a gradual process. Today is arguably one of the biggest days so far in that process.
Continue reading: End Of An Era: Hawaiian Airlines’ “HA” Code Retired, Replaced By “AS”
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
As plane color scheme enthusiasts…. can we get an A330 in the Global Northern Lights color scheme but with the colors of Hawaiian instead. I think that would look pretty cool and make for an easy change if an aircraft swap is needed.
All hail SABRE!!!...HA's horrible nightmare with Amadeus is finally over and the HA data center in Tempe is dead! HA should have never switched from SABRE to Amadeus to save a few pennies.
New AS international uniforms roll-out for the SEA-based HA flight attendants working the 787-9 flights - starting with SEA-FCO on April 28th, 2026. No more HA uniforms on the 787's. The HA interiors/colors remain for now.
Interesting that AS has had to hire language qualified flight attendants for the Italy flights that will be working under the HA bargaining agreeement.
Later this year, all AS flight attendants will receive training for the 717's, A321's and A330's even though the bargaining agreements will not be combined until 2027...at the earliest and the AS flight attendants cannot work on those aircrafts until the bargaining agreements are combined.
Hat tip to Mr. Minicucci, the CEO of AS and his Canadian/Italian/Yiddish heritage.
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Don't be fooled, the Hawaiian Airlines brand will be retired in the next couple of years. The industry is staring down its worse crisis since the pandemic, with rising fuel prices and a global recession on the horizon. The niceties of keeping dual identities will succumb to the realities of costs. Maintaining two brands, separate purchasing contracts, and so forth will not be possible as the industry likely transitions from high-demand, driven by the so-called k-shaped economy to more challenging times. Industry consolidation, though not a UA/AA merger, which is insane, is on the horizon and Alaska will be swept up in the next round of consolidation.
The merger is complicated and is pushing AS' costs up to near legacy carrier levels; AS is becoming less and less of a low cost carrier - which means they have to compete w/ global carriers for the same premium revenue w/o the benefit of costs.
And let's keep in mind that the most costly integration is joint labor agreements which will add even more costs.
HA was not financially viable post covid; AS is trying desperately to become a mini-global carrier but is losing the primary advantage - low costs - that gave AS an advantage.
I know Alaska said they are keeping the Hawaiian brand but the complexity of doing that has been realised today. As all Hawaiian flights have Alaska codes, online they all appear as Alaska flights with Alaska logos. Use Google Flights to check flights from New York to Honolulu and despite only Hawaiian planes flying, the logo online is that of Alaska. Check the Honolulu website for departures today and it seems as if Hawaiian no longer flies from there, only Alaska given the amount of Alaska tailfins dominating the departure board and complete lack of Hawaiian logos. So conceivably you’d only know your were flying Hawaiian when you physically board
and saw the colours in the fuselage. To me this doesn’t seem like a two brand strategy- this seems like mostly Alaska with a bit of Hawaiian lip service.
and you thought that increasing people's pay all came with funny money
newsflash... someone has to pay for all of those labor cost increases which you love to talk about
Tim, balance can be found between labor and capital; both do actually want the business to thrive. Sometimes that is achieved through efficiency, better service, innovation, etc., but, lets be clear: it should not be from screwing over labor.
we agree on that.... and there are airlines that have figured out that.
AS has simply moved from being a low cost version of a legacy to one w/ near legacy costs which matters a whole lot as they compete w/ legacies to be a global carrier.
AS is still a well-run company but they are paying a big price for growing to be a global airline
Why do you think the merger significantly increases Alaska’s costs? Apart from fuel headwinds, it seems that unit costs are not significantly up. Once the seniority lists merge, what are the major added expenses? Aircraft utilization, an extra maintenance base, and different FA uniforms?
Hawaii has a unique cultural
identity, and they will essentially get rid of it.
AS hasn't had to foot the bill for joint labor contracts yet. That is where the biggest costs will come from.
and you do realize that AS added multiple new aircraft types as part of the HA merger?
If those extra fleet types didn't add costs, then AS and WN would have added other aircraft types a long time ago.
but lots of fleet types do add costs for nearly all airlines.
DL and LH and a very few airlines just happen to use their fleet complexity to develop maintenance programs which they sell to other airlines.
AS' costs will continue to go up.
Hawaiian planes will probably continue to look different so Alaska can continue to plaster "Proudly All Boeing" on theirs.
Already seeing the HA 321 on my bi-weekly HNL run replaced with a Max with no Starlink. Buh Bye 321's (ala Virgin America)???
The image of the integration plan you posted in the article makes it seem relatively smooth compared to other previous mergers. May be more airlines should learn from the AS-HA merger. It would be in AS interest to continue to brand it separately.