SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines’ next, new nonstop route from Seattle will be to Europe in 2026, CEO Ben Minicucci confirmed this week in an interview where he laid out his vision for the next few years at Alaska.
Minicucci, a 20-year Alaska Air veteran who was named CEO in 2021, said the recent merger with Hawaiian Airlines is a “step change” for the airline, one that will allow it to expand its reach from the West Coast to other trans-Pacific hubs. Seattle will be at the center of that expansion, with plans to add 12 nonstop global routes with long-haul widebody airplanes by 2030.
Alaska has already announced two of those routes: one to Seoul, South Korea, starting in September and another to Tokyo Narita starting Monday. Hawaiian Airlines was already flying to those destinations, so Alaska was able to capitalize on the infrastructure and expertise it inherited through the $1.9 billion merger that closed in September.
The undisclosed European destination coming next could be a bigger lift. Neither Alaska nor Hawaiian has a presence there.
But Minicucci isn’t worried about the risks. For one thing, he said, Alaska knows what Seattle travelers want and believes the airline could stimulate demand with the new offering. For another, he encourages daring moves at the company, Minicucci said in a recent interview with The Seattle Times, striking a tone reminiscent of Big Tech CEOs out to disrupt industries.
“I want to give our people the ability not to be afraid. I want you to be bold, aggressive, try things. Because nobody ever does great things if you’re always safe,” Minicucci said. “Sometimes you have to put yourself out there and take a little bit of a chance, and feel a little bit that nervousness in your stomach and say ‘Wow, is this going to work?’ ”
Minicucci matches the demeanor of his edict to be fearless. Seated in a nook off the hallway on the upper floor of Alaska’s SeaTac headquarters, he was relaxed as he spoke about the airline’s future. Minicucci said hello to colleagues that walked by, giving off the air of a CEO who is often present in the office overlooking Sea-Tac Airport.
Originally from Montreal, Minicucci joined Alaska in 2004. He worked as vice president of maintenance, vice president of Seattle operations and president of Alaska Airlines, overseeing Alaska’s 2016 acquisition of Virgin America. He took over as CEO from Brad Tilden in 2021. On Thursday, Alaska shareholders approved a compensation package worth $8.6 million for Minicucci in 2024, a dip from the $10.3 million awarded a year earlier.
Nearly five years into his tenure as CEO and nine months into Alaska’s merger with Hawaiian Airlines, Minicucci said he’s moving with more conviction than before.
With the Virgin acquisition, Alaska went slowly, spent a lot of time analyzing decisions and often said “we’re not sure,” Minicucci said. This time, “We made a lot of the decisions out of the gate.”
Betting on new routes
The calculation that goes into picking a new route is a mix of science and art, said Kirsten Amrine, who is in charge of planning Alaska’s network of flights.
The science comes from numbers: Alaska can use industry data to see where and how frequently people are flying, and how much they are willing to pay.
The art is the reason Amrine and her team have jobs, Amrine joked in a recent interview. That side of the equation comes with knowing travelers and anticipating where Alaska’s customers may want to go.
As an example, Amrine pointed to Alaska’s decision to add a direct flight from Seattle to Belize in 2021.
The science didn’t necessarily support that decision, Amrine said. But Alaska’s network planning team knew Seattleites liked adventure and destinations that allowed them to get off the grid. Flights to Costa Rica performed well, so Alaska was willing to bet Belize would be the same.
Amrine considers that decision a success. The number of people flying from Seattle to Belize tripled.
Those types of route calculations are happening all the time. Amrine starts every Saturday morning looking at what changes Alaska’s competitors have made to their network.
Alaska makes weekly changes as well. Those decisions are finalized by Wednesday morning, Amrine said.
But the airline’s plans have a long tail. Alaska books out 331 days in advance, so the decisions made this Wednesday will affect flights in April 2026.
If Alaska is wrong on the science and the art of a destination, the biggest risk is “opportunity cost,” Amrine said. Every destination the airline picks means it can’t take a chance on a different destination, so “you want to think long-term,” Amrine said.
Minicucci holds a similar view. Unlike construction, which can be hard to reverse, airplanes are meant to move, he said.
He pointed to a recent attempt to start nonstop routes from Seattle to the Bahamas in 2023. Alaska ended that Nassau flight this year, determining that the market wasn’t there.
“It didn’t work,” Minicucci said. “We’re going to flip that and put that airplane somewhere else.”
Seattle is somewhat of a testing ground for Alaska, Minicucci said. When the airline expanded routes to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., for example, it started offering flights from Seattle, then Portland, then San Francisco and Los Angeles, and now San Diego.
Alaska’s international expansion similarly is focused on Seattle now because “we know that’s going to work,” Minicucci said. “But in 10 years, in 20 years, as our airline continues to grow and do better, who knows where we’ll fly (out of) internationally?”
No longer “all Boeing”
The Hawaiian acquisition will put Alaska at odds with the tagline displayed on the nose of many of its planes: “Proudly all Boeing.”
As it integrates the two fleets, Alaska will inherit 24 widebody planes from Boeing’s European rival Airbus.
It’s not the first time Alaska has inherited Airbus planes — it added 60 Airbus aircraft when it acquired Virgin America in a 2016 deal. But it spent the next few years retiring those Airbus planes, hoping to capitalize on the efficiency of operating just one type of plane. That can make it easier and less expensive to train pilots and keep up with maintenance. Alaska was finally “proudly all Boeing” in September 2023.
This time around, Alaska will keep the Airbus planes, Minicucci said, and is relying on them to prop up its trans-Pacific expansion.
The Airbus A319 and A320 narrowbody planes Alaska inherited when it acquired Virgin were too similar to the Boeing 737 planes it was already flying, Minicucci said. Comparatively, the A330 widebodies Alaska inherited from Hawaiian will add new capabilities to Alaska’s fleet, allowing it to reach markets it couldn’t access with the 737.
Alaska also expects to receive 12 of Boeing’s widebody equivalent, the 787 Dreamliner, by 2028.
“We have all the arrows in our quiver,” Minicucci said. “That gives us the possibility of reaching pretty much wherever we want to go out of Seattle.”
Because both Boeing and Airbus have such a large backlog of orders, it would have taken years for Alaska to receive the same Airbus widebody planes it is now gearing up to integrate into its fleet.
Moving away from “proudly all Boeing,” will add some complexities, Minicucci said, adding that he was confident his team could handle it smoothly. Pilots will go through additional training and simulations. Maintenance will require new facilities and tools. Even loading baggage on widebodies requires different equipment than that for the 737.
The Airbus A330s will be housed in Honolulu, using Hawaiian’s existing infrastructure. Alaska will build a new hangar to accommodate the Boeing 787 planes on the West Coast, though Minicucci couldn’t yet say where.
Finalizing the merger
Alaska laid out four milestones on its path to integrate the two airlines.
First, it will combine frequent flyer programs. Then, it must receive a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, meaning the safety regulator has signed off that one set of management is in charge of both airlines and the combined carrier is operating safely.
Alaska plans to cross both those milestones by the end of the year.
After that, it will bring both airlines under one reservation system by mid-2026.
Lastly, it will combine the two unionized workforces and settle joint collective bargaining agreements. Those negotiations have already started and Alaska hopes to finalize agreements by 2027.
While Alaska is integrating Hawaiian into its operations, it wants to keep both brands distinct. So, even though customers will be able to use the same reservation system to book a flight on Alaska or Hawaiian, the onboard experience will be different. Flights to, from and within Hawaii will keep the Pualani logo on the plane’s tail.
Operating two distinct brands isn’t something airlines usually do after a merger and Minicucci said he faced some skepticism about the decision. But he’s “totally convicted” on doing so.
“That brand is just too special. It has a lot of equity and value, especially in the state of Hawaii,” he said. “I am convicted and resolute that brand is there forever.”
The concerns don’t phase him, Minicucci continued. “Just because it’s never been done, doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”
