Alaska & Hawaiian Branding Strategy Revealed, And It’s Unusual

Alaska Airlines recently acquired Hawaiian Airlines, and Alaska Air Group is wasting no time with making changes. The company has just revealed all kinds of details about its future, ranging from launching long haul flights from Seattle (Tokyo is the first destination), to introducing a new premium credit card, to opening more lounges.

We’ve known that Alaska Air Group plans to maintain both the Alaska and Hawaiian brands in the long run. That’s kind of unprecedented, because with virtually every airline merger we’ve seen of domestic carriers, one brand survives. Well, we now have a sense of how the company plans to maintain two distinct brands… sort of.

How Alaska Air Group will maintain Alaska & Hawaiian brands

From the time that Alaska’s takeover of Hawaiian was announced, executives at the company insisted that both airline groups would stick around in the long run. I imagine this came down to two factors.

First, I suspect this was intended to increase the odds of the takeover getting regulatory approval, by showing Alaska’s commitment to the state of Hawaii, and how the deal would benefit consumers. Second, both of these airlines have location-specific names, so it would be kind of strange to fly on an airline named Alaska between Hawaii and Japan, for example (I mean, I suppose Alaska operates all kinds of flights not to and from the state of Alaska, so maybe not actually).

Within the next year, both Alaska and Hawaiian should be on a single operating certificate, which will simplify things in terms of scheduling, assigning crews, etc. On the back end and internally, the two airlines will be one. But how do you go about actually maintaining two separate brands as far as customers are concerned? Well, now we know.

Today, Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci revealed the company’s strategy — in the long run, the plan is for all Alaska Air Group flights, to, from, and within Hawaii, to have the Hawaiian Airlines branding. Flights not to, from, or within Hawaii, will have the Alaska Airlines branding.

This means that aircraft will be rebranded in the long run in order to reflect the markets they serve. Eventually wide body jets flying long haul from Seattle will have Alaska branding, while Hawaiian could very well get some Boeing 737s in its fleet, featuring Hawaiian branding.

The logistics here will be incredibly complex

If you’re going to maintain two separate airline brands, then Alaska Air Group’s strategy is probably the most obvious way to go about it. When flying to or from Hawaii, people like the idea of flying with Hawaiian Airlines. For those from the mainland, it’s like starting your vacation before even getting to your destination.

But this is also really complicated. I’d assume that planes will maintain distinct branding, and that limits the ability for the company to shift aircraft between markets. For example, in the long run, does that mean a particular A330 couldn’t fly from Tokyo to Seattle and then from Seattle to Honolulu, since one flight would be Alaska branded, and one would be Hawaiian branded?

It also limits the ability to shift demand seasonally. For example, maybe the company wants to fly wide body aircraft between the mainland and Hawaii in winter, and then from Seattle to Europe in summer.

Will the two airlines introduce some sort of a joint livery that covers both brands, and then the only “branding” for a particular flight will be the flight number and perhaps the vibe of the onboard service? Keep in mind that eventually work groups will be integrated, so presumably you’ll have legacy Alaska flight attendants flying Hawaiian jets, and vice versa.

I suppose this is as logical as any process could be for trying to maintain two distinct brands… but this still seems less than ideal, especially given the synergies being unlocked with the ideal.

Anyway, it’s going to be quite some time before this is actually relevant for passengers. Because the two airlines are still on separate operating certificates, they will continue to operate as distinct brands for now. In other words, it will be Hawaiian operating the long haul flights out of Seattle, since the A330s are on that operating certificate.

Bottom line

We’ve just learned how Alaska Air Group will maintain two brands going forward. The company will use the Hawaiian Airlines brand for all flights to, from, and within Hawaii, and will use the Alaska Airlines brand for everything else.

Maintaining two separate brands is complicated, especially given how airlines shift around capacity and do their fleet planning. So we now have a better indication of how this will work, though I wonder if there might be a bit more to this, once the final decision has to be signed off on.

What do you make of Alaska Air Group’s branding strategy?