HONOLULU (KHON2) – The economic impact is huge. The acquisition gives Alaska a large share of Hawaii's estimated $8 billion aviation industry.
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We wanted to know how this will impact the tens of thousands of employees and millions of passenger and freight customers.
Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines say union-represented jobs in Hawaii will remain and even grow after Alaska takes power. Longtime political and industry leaders said the labor component, along with expanding the combined airline's footprint, was critical to making this work.
“I think this is important,” said Mufi Hannemann, president of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. “This is a strong blue-collar town.”
We keep the jobs we have here, look for ways to expand and improve this service, and thirdly, the air service we can rely on.
Job safety and working conditions are a top priority for thousands of Hawaiian Airlines employees, including 2,200 flight attendants.
Her union said, “Our first priority is to determine whether this merger will improve conditions for you and your colleagues at Alaska Airlines,” adding, “Our support for the merger will depend on that.”
And the Hawaiian's 1,100 union pilots said they are “confident that this new merger agreement will benefit both our guests and themselves.”
“Alaska and Hawaii have made commitments here on paper and in words to retain employees, which is truly what matters most to me. The more than 7,000 employees headquartered in my district who we need to continue their work have made commitments to maintain the Hawaiian brand,” said Rep. Ed Case (D).
A brand called Alaska said it had no intention of withdrawing, unlike when Alaska Airlines withdrew the Virgin America brand within a few years of purchasing that airline.
“A lot of people were so passionately in love with this brand. So I think Alaska is definitely going to be very careful, especially with a really heritage brand like Hawaiian, and not just erase that culture and meaning,” said Katy Nastro, travel expert at Going.com.
Cargo is another business area that is being closely watched.
Alaska operates its own fleet of freighters and said the merger would create more freight routes. Hawaiian just launched a freight service for Amazon.
“We will carefully consider whether further dedicated freight or flight services for us in an asset-light model might make sense for others over time for the combined company. An additional benefit of the Amazon partnership is growing the number of widebody pilots and acquiring a pilot base in the Midwest. This provides more attractive long-term career opportunities for our current and future Hawaii and Alaska pilots,” said Shane Tackett, Alaska Airlines CFO.
It must be determined how high the community benefits will be. Take University of Hawaii athletics, for example, which receives just over half a million sponsors annually from Hawaiian Airlines.
Alaska Airlines reportedly paid $41 million for the 10-year naming rights to the field at the University of Washington Stadium
Experts said if Alaska hadn't offered to buy out Hawaiian, it probably would have been someone else.
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“Of course I had heard rumors because one of the airlines had financial problems at the end of the year,” said Hannemann. “You know, we have some strong mainland airlines that have been in Hawaii for many years. And some that have recently been added. That would have been fine because they understood that in Hawaii they do it the same way the Hawaiians do it, so I think it would have been fine. But Alaska is probably the strongest candidate for such a merger.”
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