Editorial: Hawaiian’s spirit on Alaska’s wings | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

“HA” — the airline code, that is — is no more, and it’s no laughing matter. The historic Hawaiian Airlines callsign, used on tickets and in chatter between pilots and air traffic controllers for generations, was retired Wednesday. Now, Alaska Airlines’ “AS” is used on Hawaiian flights’ boarding passes and airport displays, reflecting the homegrown company’s acquisition by the Alaska Air Group and their official merger under a single operating certificate.

More big changes took place Wednesday, chief among them appointment of a new Hawaiian Air CEO: Diana Birkett Rakow, the first woman to take the helm. Hawaiian Air passengers must brace themselves, though: The airline is also retiring its striking, shades-of-blue uniform, patterned with botanical images by Native Hawaiian designer Sig Zane of Hilo. Another design has been commissioned by Alaska, with Zane’s participation, to reflect the airlines’ joined identity.

Hawaiian’s distinctive tail art and free meal service on long-haul flights will continue — though they’re not guaranteed in perpetuity.

Customer feedback — and ticket sales — will play a part in what comes next. Alaska will need to demonstrate a continued dedication to the culture of aloha — as in courtesy and attention to the comfort of passengers, and attunement to the gentle grace of tropical island life — that is not swamped by impersonal corporate mandates.

Alaska is maintaining Hawaiian Air’s headquarters (technically now regional headquarters) in Honolulu. Keeping the administrative presence and CEO in the islands show that there’s an ongoing commitment to Hawaiian and recognition of its unique identity, said outgoing Hawaiian CEO Joe Sprague, who’s retiring. “When we say ‘The brand is here to stay’ … we are putting actual action behind that commitment.”

With this merger and the major changes that rival Southwest Airlines has initiated — including reserved seats and redesigned cabins with premium sections — frequent fliers have the opportunity to approach their flying options with fresh eyes. Long-haul routes leaving the islands have been eliminated, but other opportunities have emerged, and competition continues.

Many readers have reported that since the combining of Hawaiian and Alaska’s rewards programs, certain hard-won HawaiianMiles perks have been lost. Hawaiian Air fliers can no longer use those program miles to upgrade their seating, for instance, and that’s aggravating. Doling out disappointments to the most loyal Hawaiian fliers is the kind of unforced error that should be avoided — and Alaska would do well to reach out to those fliers who’ve been affected.

Significant details have yet to be worked out on this “integration,” as it’s being called. Joint labor contracts covering pilots, flight attendants, maintenance technicians, airport agents and dispatchers must be negotiated to reflect the new operating structure, with important issues such as job retainment guarantees and the distribution of seniority at stake. Existing contracts remain in effect until new agreements are reached.

Hawaiian’s labor force now is about 7,300 systemwide, with 6,600 based in Hawaii; the airline eliminated 325 “non-contract” (non-union) jobs and added 646 union positions over the last year. Alaska says no more jobs will be eliminated between now and New Year’s Day, though that’s only two months away; contract negotiations may reveal more.

When Hawaiian Airlines was acquired by Alaska just over a year ago, on Sept. 18, 2024, that ended nearly a century of Hawaiian’s existence as an independent operator, which started as the scrappy Inter-Island Airways in 1929. Post-acquisition, integration into one corporate entity with Alaska at the helm has been the game plan, and on the whole this serves island fliers. The alternative — with Hawaiian Air drowning in debt after COVID-19’s air travel deep freeze — might have been bankruptcy and dissolution.

Still, nostalgia arises at the thought that flyers will never again see that familiar HA on our boarding passes.

Travel news website Beat of Hawaii, its online pages tinted old-photo sepia, evoked the bittersweet feelings of memory and loss, opining, “Retiring the HA call sign isn’t just an administrative change. It’s the end of a voice and a history: every clearance, every landing, every exchange between pilot and tower.” Sad, and true.

The end of the “HA” callsign and single certificate grouping, along with changes in staffing, routes and rewards, make it clear that a defining chapter in the state’s aviation history has ended. Locals already know the feeling. It was even more painful when Aloha Airlines closed down in 2008, and many other changes have followed.

Hawaiian Airlines, as generations of locals have long known it, is dead; long live Hawaiian Airlines. While paying tribute to sepia-toned memories, islanders must insist these corporate changes don’t diminish prospects for continued aloha in flight, and investments in community. Retaining that precious spirit and level of commitment to passengers and crew alike is now the “integrated” airlines’ joint kuleana.