Hawaiian Airlines CEO Joe Sprague is a self-proclaimed airplane geek — and says he has been from his earliest memory. His interest, though, wasn't just aviation and airplanes, he told Aloha State Daily, but airlines.
"I always knew I wanted to do something in the space," he said.
Sprague studied flight at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and flew commercially for a few years after college.
He was on the pathway to become a pilot, he said, "but then when you actually get into the business, you realize there's all sorts of other cool positions that somebody can do. After a few years of flying, I decided to take a chance on a management job. I tell people I got lost on the way to the airport one day and ended up in management. But it's been a great ride ever since and I've been blessed to be in situations at both some regional airlines and then, for the last 25 years, at Alaska Airlines, where I've been allowed to go and try different things, both on the operations side of the house and on the commercial side of the house — and also with public affairs and external relations a bit as well. So it's been fascinating. It's just a real rich blessing to have had a chance to do a lot of different kinds of jobs."
Alaska Air Group, Inc. and Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. announced in December 2023 that Alaska Airlines would acquire Hawaiian Airlines in a deal that was valued at approximately $1.9 billion, including $900 million of Hawaiian’s net debt, according to an announcement at that time.
The acquisition was completed last September. At that time, the airlines began working to secure a single operating certificate with the Federal Aviation Administration, "which will allow the two airlines to operate as a single carrier with an integrated passenger service system," according to an announcement at that time.
However, the distinct Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines brands will be maintained.
Sprague was named CEO of Hawaiian Airlines in September following its combination with Alaska Air Group. It was announced in September that Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci would lead the combined organization.
Sprague recently provided updates about the airline at a at business pau hana hosted by the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i — you can read more about that here — but Aloha State Daily sat down with Sprague Monday, March 3, at the Hawaiian Airlines headquarters in Honolulu to talk more about the merger, what's afoot at the airline and what travelers can expect in the future.
Here are the highlights of what he had to say:
On the last five months ...
Sprague says the months since stepping into the role have been "intense" and "full of learning."
"There's a lot going on and a lot for me to learn," he told ASD. "Fortunately, we've got ... a lot of good team members [who] have been wonderful teachers for me. But it's been quite busy because, loosely speaking, there's two big sets of activity happening."
One, Sprague says, is the continued safe operations of Hawaiian Airlines, which operates hundreds of flights and oversees thousands of employees "delivering safe and good service for all of our guests. That's a busy set of activities in and of itself."
"Then on a parallel path, we also have all the integration activities happening to blend everything with Alaska Airlines, and that's a lot of activity as well," he continued. "So it's never dull around here — put it that way."
On seeking a single operating certificate with the FAA, what it means for customers — and what comes next ...
Sprague reiterated: "The Hawaiian Airlines brand is not going anywhere."
"We talk about all of this integration activity and all these big integration and merger projects ... but the the most important thing for readers to remember is all that's behind the scenes and what the guests that fly with us, particularly here in the Islands, will see is Hawaiian Airlines," he said. "They'll see the Pualani on the tail. They'll see the reliable Neighbor Island service at high frequencies like we've always done. They'll see the fantastic international service that we offer out of Honolulu to Japan elsewhere in Asia, elsewhere in Oceania. And they'll see, of course, the great service that we have to the continent, especially on the West Coast. So no changes there for folks here in Hawai‘i."
But much is changing behind the scenes and Sprague said the airlines are "well down the path of pursuing with the FAA a single operating certificate."
It's not something that'll happen all at once — Sprague says it's happening now in gradual phases — but once its acquired, the operational functions of the two airlines will be blended into one.
"That means that we have to blend all of the operating manuals, the maintenance manuals, the training programs, procedures and policies, all have to be brought together under a single set," he explained.
"It's been done many, many times in airline mergers. It's not a new exercise by any stretch for either the airlines or for the FAA," Sprague continued. "In fact, in Alaska's case, we just went though this recently with our acquisition of Virgin America airlines less than a decade ago. So, we have the playbook already in place for a lot of this stuff and that's what we're doing right now. It's working to bring all of those functions together."
According to Sprague, the first phase is completed and the process is "well into the second phase," putting the airlines on track to receive a single operating certificate sometime this fall.
That particular milestone enables several other efforts that are happening in parallel but can't be completed until the airlines receive that certificate, he says.
The next big milestone worth noting is the implementation of a single passenger service system, or PSS, Sprague says.
That's the "behind-the-scenes technical system, or IT system that powers all of the reservations that customers make," he said, noting that Hawaiian is on one type of system and Alaska is on a different one.
"It's not only about getting on the same system, it's about really shifting into an entirely different system for one of the airlines," Sprague said.
"We've already made the decision of which system we're switching to and now that project is fully underway to get to a single system," he told ASD. "But because people make their reservations, in some cases many months in advance of their actual trip, it's a system that you can't [switch] over night. You have to actually get everything aligned up on a single platform and then let the reservations that were made on the previous platform drain down until everything's out of the old system. Then you can finish the transition to the new system. Because of that, that project is scheduled to reach its milestone in April of 2026."
Sprague says that new system will allow for a different type of check-in and reservation experiences, allow customers to more easily "self-serve" if they need to make changes to reservations, and offer a more robust and functional mobile app for Hawaiian customers.
On loyalty programs ...
A third "big" milestone will be the delivery of a "better loyalty program experience for our guests," Sprague says.
Even though the airline brands will remain separate, they will shift to a single loyalty program.
Today, Hawaiian has its HawaiianMiles program and Alaska has its Mileage Plan, but both will go away and be replaced by a single new loyalty program.
Sprague says the goal is to share more details about the new loyalty program this summer and open it to guests in the fall.
He noted again, later in the conversation, that the HawaiianMiles program will go away, but said the miles members have accumulated are "not only safe," but will "take on even greater value."
But even with the new loyalty program set to debut this year, Sprague says Huaka‘i by Hawaiian — a new program announced last year for residents of Hawai‘i — will remain in pace.
According to an announcement in November, members of the program will get a free checked bag — inclusive of surfboards, golf bags and other sports equipment — on interisland flights along with discounts of 10% or 20% for one Neighbor Island booking per quarter and other deals.
"We have over 200,000 residents of Hawai‘i that have signed up for it, and that number is growing all the time," he said. "... The benefits of it have only been active for a couple of months now, so I think we'll see continued growth in residents, especially [those on] Neighbor Islands, joining Huaka‘i."
Looking ahead ...
As the airline moves into 2026 and the new passenger service system is implemented, Sprague says customers will see a Hawaiian Airlines-branded website and mobile app with enhanced features and functionality.
Sprague noted, too, that Hawaiian is already enhancing its interisland services by adding later flights between some Neighbor Island airports and Honolulu.
"Separately, the beauty of bringing the two airlines together is that we can blend the two networks — and there was very little overlap in the networks to begin with," he said. "Alaska has the strength of flying from a number of West Coast gateway cities to over 100 destinations across North America. ... The enablement of being able to fly from Hawai‘i to over 100 additional destinations in North America is now in place. With the spring and summer schedule, we're fine tuning the connectivity so it's much more convenient for people here in Hawai‘i to access [Mainland destinations such as] Kansas City, St. Louis, Texas, East Coast cities, Florida, etc. So really opening up a whole new way to access anywhere in North America on a single airline."
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
