Alaska Air Group is cutting about 200 noncontract jobs as it forecasts a fuel bill $1.8 billion over plan and its CEO warns of a loss of up to $700 million this year. Front-line, nonmanagement jobs are spared.
Alaska Air Group said Friday it is eliminating about 200 noncontract jobs, mostly in Washington and Hawaii, as surging jet fuel costs push the Alaska Airlines parent toward a loss.
The Alaska Airlines layoffs affect fewer than 1% of the company’s roughly 32,500 employees, Reuters reported. No front-line, nonmanagement jobs are being eliminated.
Chief Executive Ben Minicucci warned that the company could post an adjusted pretax loss of up to $700 million in 2026, according to Reuters. The airline group expects its full-year fuel expense to come in $1.8 billion above plan.
The cuts include 125 positions in Washington state and 48 in Hawaii, Reuters reported. Early counts from other outlets differed slightly: Skift put the Washington figure at 148, and Hawaii News Now reported 46 Hawaii jobs.
Affected employees’ scheduled last working day is Nov. 13, and they will be paid through Dec. 31. Minicucci’s memo to employees promises severance and support, Reuters reported.
“We must return to the financial discipline that has long been a key competitive advantage,” Minicucci wrote in the Oct. 30 memo, which Reuters reviewed.
Fuel Bill Pushes Alaska Air Group Into the Red
The job cuts follow third-quarter results that showed revenue rising while fuel costs climbed faster.
In its Oct. 20 earnings release, Alaska Air Group reported quarterly revenue of $4.3 billion, up 14% from a year earlier. It posted a net loss of $147 million under generally accepted accounting principles for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
The company reported an economic fuel cost of $3.94 a gallon for the quarter. It expects fuel to cost $4.65 to $4.85 a gallon in the fourth quarter.
Alaska Air Group’s current guidance calls for a full-year adjusted loss of $5.00 to $5.50 per share.
As of Sept. 30, the company reported $3.3 billion in available liquidity, including undrawn facilities, and $755 million in operating cash flow for the first nine months of the year.
Weeks before the layoffs, Melius Research analyst Conor Cunningham said in an Oct. 2 Reuters report that Alaska was pursuing the right areas but faced near-term pressure from fuel prices and competition.
Unions Bargaining as Cuts Land
The cuts target noncontract roles, but they arrive while the company negotiates with unions representing other employees.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Air Transport District 142 criticized management’s bargaining proposal in an Oct. 8 bulletin, objecting to provisions on outsourcing, artificial intelligence and pay. General Chairs Jesse Wilson and David Figueira signed the bulletin, which scheduled joint bargaining in Seattle for Nov. 3-5.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Alaska and Hawaiian flight attendants, reported tentative agreements on seniority and retiree provisions in an Oct. 30 bargaining update. That update addressed contract talks, not the job cuts.
As of Oct. 31, neither union had posted a statement on the layoffs on its website, and no public response from affected workers had surfaced.
Hawaii Jobs and the Hawaiian Airlines Merger
Alaska Air Group’s subsidiaries include Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air. McGee Air Services is a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Hawaiian Airlines CEO Diana Birkett Rakow said 40 Hawaii jobs would be eliminated and eight employees would be offered other roles. That breakdown has not been independently confirmed.
Company officials said the new cuts are not tied to the 2024 merger, Hawaii News Now and the Star-Advertiser reported.
Alaska Air Group completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings on Sept. 18, 2024. In October 2025, the two carriers received a Federal Aviation Administration single operating certificate while keeping separate brands, AeroTime reported.
Earlier workforce reductions in Hawaii did cite the merger. A Jan. 16, 2025, notice on file with Hawaii’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations anticipated about 61 separations beginning around March 17, 2025: 57 at headquarters, two at a cargo hangar and two at Honolulu’s airport.
A July 16, 2025, notice anticipated about 252 separations among 958 noncontract employees, beginning around Sept. 17, 2025. Both notices stated that the entire facility was not closing. In March 2026, KITV reported that Hawaiian had filed a notice covering about 48 nonunion Hawaii employees whose interim merger-related roles would end within months.
Those filings fall under Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, rules. They record planned separations, not final departure counts.
A separate state summary of a notice received Oct. 2, 2026, lists about 13 planned separations in December 2026 and January 2027 among 537 noncontract employees, also attributed to the merger. Eleven are at headquarters, one in cargo and one at Honolulu’s airport. Its relationship to the Oct. 30 announcement has not been established.
Key Takeaways
- Alaska Air Group announced Oct. 30 it is cutting about 200 noncontract jobs, fewer than 1% of its roughly 32,500 employees; no front-line, nonmanagement jobs are affected.
- Reuters reported 125 positions in Washington and 48 in Hawaii; other outlets’ counts differed slightly.
- Affected workers’ last day is Nov. 13, with pay through Dec. 31.
- Minicucci warned of an adjusted pretax loss of up to $700 million in 2026, with fuel expense forecast $1.8 billion over plan.
- Unions are in contract talks; no layoff-specific union response had surfaced as of Oct. 31.