Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci addresses concerned customers after several flights have been canceled, disrupting plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers. He says that since April, those canceled flights have stretched Alaska Airlines teams too far and the airline hasn’t been taking care of customers or guests in the way they’d like. He says that the company’s operational challenges come down to not having enough pilots to fly the spring schedule, which the company takes responsibility for.
Alaska Airlines began April and May with 63 fewer Alaska pilots than needed to fly the company’s schedule. By the time the problem was recognized, the schedules were already bid out by pilots and flight attendants. He said there was no way to completely close the gap between the number of block hours on the schedule compared to the pilots available to fly, which continued to have a domino effect.
Of the 1,200 flights that are operated daily, about 50 of them have been canceled, which equates to 4%. That comes at a time when flights are already full and rebooking options are limited. Adding to the headache is the fact that many guests have experienced extraordinarily long hold times to get they help they need.
In a video and letter, he apologized for the impact and shares how the company is getting back to being the airline residents can trust in.
By July and through the rest of the summer travel season, the company aims to be back to flying a reliable and well-staffed operation. An additional 50 pilots, 400 flight attendants and 200 reservations agents will have joined our ranks. This will allow us to increase block hours to 76k in July and August.
Click here to read Minicucci’s letter.