Employees of Alaska Air Group companies Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are receiving $120 million in incentive bonuses today. For most employees, this equates to more than 6.5 percent of their annual pay in 2018.
The company’s annual bonus, called Performance Based Pay (PBP), is determined by meeting or exceeding specific company-wide goals for safety, customer satisfaction, cost control, customer loyalty and profit.
“After a year of hard work, we’re incredibly grateful for our 22,000 fantastic employees who go the extra mile to put safety first and deliver the kind-hearted service we’re known for,” said Ben Minicucci, Alaska Airlines’ president and COO. “For the 10th year in a row, our employees have earned bonuses byย exceeding targets for meeting our annual and monthly goals. On behalf of the entire leadership team, thank you for another incredible year.”
The PBP bonus is in addition to the approximately $15.7ย million in monthly operational bonuses that employees earned over 2018 for achieving monthly on-time and customer satisfaction goals. The combined monthly, annual and one-time bonuses paid to employees total $136 million.
Geographic breakdown:
About $66 million in annual bonuses โ nearly 55 percent of the total โ is being paid to Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air employees across Washington
$28 million โ or 24 percent of the total โ is going to employees throughout California
$12 million is being paid to employees in Oregon
$8 million is going to employees throughout the state of Alaska
The employee bonuses come two weeks after the airline announced its 2019 jobs forecast and Washington economic impact study, highlighting the $7 billion Alaska has contributed to the state economy.
Top Copyright Photo (all others by Alaska):ย Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990 ER SSWL N268AK (msn 36365) JFK (Fred Freketic). Image: 945414.
Alaska Airlines has issued this statement on their blog:
We hope you can appreciate the adage โgood things come to those who wait,โ because we have an update to pass along about our planned flights at Paine Field.
Several key groups within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which conduct crucial certification and oversight work required for the start of commercial air service at Paine Field, are subject to furloughs because of the government shutdown. The FAAโs work on the environmental assessment continues. However, essential work groups within the FAA are furloughed and further delays are expected if the shutdown continues.
Itโs a tough decision, but we believe the responsible action is to postpone the start of service at Paine Field. Originally set for Feb. 11, 2019, weโre now scheduling service to begin on March 4 โ subject to receipt of all required government approvals.
If you bought a ticket for a Paine Field flight, your first question might be: what now?
Hereโs what weโre doing for guests:
Guests with tickets for travel between Feb. 11 and March 4 will receive an email notification from us today that theyโre automatically being confirmed, waiving any fees, on a new flight on the same travel date from Sea-Tac International Airport. Itโll be for a time thatโs closest to their original Paine Field flight.
If guests wish to keep Paine Field as their departing or arriving airport for a new flight on March 4 or later, you can do that, waiving any fees, by calling us at 1-800-252-7522.
And if you prefer not to travel, weโll provide a full refund to your original form of payment, waiving any fees. To make that happen, call us at 1-800-252-7522.
โWe know our guests who purchased tickets to and from Paine Field will be disappointed by this delay โ so are we,โ said Andrew Harrison, Alaska Airlinesโ chief commercial officer. โThere are certain things that are simply out of our control. We apologize if your travel plans need to change. But we remain eager and committed to giving you โ our loyal guests โ a much-needed airport alternative north of Seattle, and a great experience.โ
Weโre still moving forward to prepare for operations at Paine Field, including hiring and training our employees, who look forward to serving you in the coming months. And weโll continue to work closely with the FAA as it completes its environmental assessment and other needed approvals.
Itโs still not clear when the government shutdown will end. Why was March 4 selected as the new start of service date?
Itโs a judgment call on our part because we donโt know when the government shutdown will end. We selected a new date for start of service that could allow time for a resolution, but not too far out in case the shutdown suddenly ended. Weโre hopeful our operations at Paine Field will get up and running soon and we can get our guests going places.
If the shutdown continues, could Alaska be put in a position to once again delay start of service?
Unfortunately, yes. We canโt start flying at Paine Field until we have all the required, final government approvals. Weโre making the best business decisions we can during a difficult situation.
Why not re-route all flights to Sea-Tac that are scheduled to fly between Feb. 11 and March 4 at Paine Field?
We are indeed moving a majority of the previously scheduled flights from Paine Field to Sea-Tac to accommodate our guests. We can also rely on our normal, robust flight schedule at Sea-Tac to get our guests to their destinations.
Revised flight schedule
Service Begins
Route
Flight Time
Mar. 4 only
Paine Field-Portland
10:00 a.m.-10:55 p.m.
Mar. 4 only
Portland-Paine Field
11:55 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
Mar. 4 only
Paine Field-Las Vegas
10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Mar. 4 only
Las Vegas-Paine Field
1:55 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Mar. 4
Paine Field-Phoenix
12:00 p.m.-3:55 p.m.*
Mar. 4
Phoenix-Paine Field
4:55 p.m.-7:05 p.m.*
Mar. 5
Paine Field-Portland
6:30 a.m.-7:25 a.m.
Mar. 5
Portland-Paine Field
10:20 a.m.-11:20 a.m.
Mar. 5
Paine Field-Las Vegas
9:20 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
Mar. 5
Las Vegas-Paine Field
12:35 p.m.-3:20 p.m.
Mar. 5
Paine Field-San Diego
10:40 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Mar. 5
San Diego-Paine Field
2:20 p.m.-5:20 p.m.
Mar. 5
Paine Field-Los Angeles
11:25 a.m.-2:15 p.m.
Mar. 5
Los Angles-Paine Field
3:35 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Mar. 5
Paine Field-Los Angeles
4:00 p.m.-6:50 p.m.
Mar. 5
Los Angles-Paine Field
7:55 p.m.-10:50 p.m.
Mar. 6
Paine Field-Portland
6:00 p.m.-6:55 p.m.
Mar. 6
Portland-Paine Field
9:35 p.m.-10:35 p.m.
Mar. 6
Paine Field-San Diego
7:45 p.m.-10:35 p.m.
Mar. 7
San Diego-Paine Field
7:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m.
Mar. 7
Paine Field-Los Angeles
7:00 a.m.-9:45 a.m.
Mar. 7
Los Angles-Paine Field
10:30 a.m.-1:20 p.m.
Mar. 7
Paine Field- San Francisco
8:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m.
Mar. 7
San Francisco-Paine Field
12:05 p.m.-2:20 p.m.
Mar. 7
Paine Field-San Jose
2:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m.
Mar. 7
San Jose-Paine Field
5:45 p.m.-7:55 p.m.
Mar. 9
Paine Field-San Francisco
3:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m.
Mar. 9
San Francisco-Paine Field
6:10 p.m.-8:25 p.m.
Mar. 10
Paine Field-Los Angeles
7:10 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Mar. 10
Paine Field-Portland
9:05 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Mar. 11
Los Angles-Paine Field
7:05 a.m.-9:45 a.m.
Mar. 11
Portland-Paine Field
7:40 a.m.-8:40 a.m.
Mar. 11
Paine Field-San Jose
7:30 a.m.-9:45 a.m.
Mar. 11
San Jose-Paine Field
10:30 a.m.-12:40 a.m.
Mar. 11
Paine Field-Portland
1:20 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
Mar. 11
Portland-Paine Field
3:50 p.m.-4:50 p.m.
Mar. 11
Paine Field-Las Vegas
5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Mar. 11
Las Vegas-Paine Field
8:40 p.m.-11:25 p.m.
Mar. 12
Paine Field-Orange County
8:00 a.m.-10:40 a.m.
Mar. 12
Orange County-Paine Field
5:50 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
*Due to daylight saving time, the Phoenix flight times will change starting Mar. 10:
Alaska Airlines announced today it will begin daily nonstop service between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and El Paso International Airport, along with daily nonstop service between El Paso and San Diego International Airport. El Paso is a new destination for Alaska.
The new service is scheduled to begin February 19, 2019, offering the only nonstop flights from Seattle/Tacoma and San Diego to El Paso.
Alaska has considered El Paso as a new destination for some time. It’s currently the largest underserved market from Seattle/Tacoma within the range of our Embraer 175 jets. That aircraft โ with three cabin classes โ is a perfect fit for this route, which will be flown by Horizon Air.
El Paso will become Alaska’s third destination to Texas served from San Diego, joining Austin and Dallas Love Field.
Effective Date
City Pair
Departs
Arrives
Frequency
Aircraft
Feb. 19, 2019
Seattle โ El Paso
7:45 a.m.
12:05 p.m.
Daily
E175
Feb. 19, 2019
El Paso โ Seattle
5:55 p.m.
8:35 p.m.
Daily
E175
Feb. 19, 2019
El Paso โ San Diego
12:50 p.m.
1:40 p.m.
Daily
E175
Feb. 19, 2019
San Diego โ El Paso
2:25 p.m.
5:10 p.m.
Daily
E175
Flight times based on local time zones.
El Paso will become the 91st nonstop destination available from Alaska’s main hub in Seattle/Tacoma this spring.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air issued this statement:
A STATEMENT FROM ALASKA AIR GROUP CEO BRAD TILDEN AND HORIZON AIR CEO GARY BECK
Brad Tilden: โThere was an incident late yesterday involving the unauthorized operation of one of our aircraft that took off from Sea-Tac around 8 p.m.
โWe are still gathering facts, but at this point we understand there was only one person aboard, an employee of Horizon Air, who was operating the aircraft. I want to share how incredibly sad all of us at Alaska are about this incident. Our heart is heavy for the family and friends of the person involved.
โWeโre working to find out everything we possibly can about what happened, working with the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Transportation Safety Board. We are giving those investigators our full support and cooperation.
โWith these investigations underway, our focus will remain on supporting the family of the individual involved, the broader Alaska and Horizon family, and our communities and guests.
Brad Tilden
CEO, Alaska Air Group
Gary Beck: โI want to echo what Brad said about how incredibly sad all of us are about what happened last night.
โOur first priority is always the safety and care of our people and guests. Our hearts are with all of our employees at Horizon Air, and the larger Alaska Airlines community, and the family of the individual involved.
โThe Horizon Air Q400, which was taken from Sea-Tac International Airport, was not scheduled to fly at the time of the incident. While we have not yet confirmed the identity of the employee, we have confirmed that all crew and passengers are accounted for. Air Traffic Control was in contact with the individual during the brief flight before it crashed on Ketron Island about an hour after it left Sea-Tac. No ground structures were involved in the crash.
โWe are working closely with the authorities and our own safety teams to thoroughly understand this incident.
โI want to thank the employees of Horizon Air and our guests. Our primary objective is to do everything possible to support all of you.โ
Gary Beck, President and CEO, Horizon Air
Update: 1:15 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2018 View todayโs press conference with our CEO, Brad Tilden, Horizon Air CEO, Gary Beck, the FBI and the Port of Seattle.
All of us at Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are saddened by last nightโs unauthorized flight of a Horizon Q400 aircraft that resulted in the loss of life of the individual involved.
Our top priority is the safety of our guests and employees. Simply put there is nothing more important to us.
We are working closely with the FBI, the NTSB and the FAA to better understand the circumstances of this unauthorized flight. The FBI is the lead investigator for this incident.
Yesterdayโs events will push us to learn what we can from this tragedy so that we can help prevent it from happening again at our airline or any other.
Update: 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 11, 2018
A toll-free hotline has been established for anyone who believes they may know the person involved in the Horizon Air incident. The number is 1-888-283-2153.
Update: 11:54 p.m. on Aug. 10, 2018 Alaska Airlines believes a ground service agent employed by Horizon Air was the individual responsible for flying the Horizon Q400 without clearance from Sea-Tac International Airport around 8 p.m. tonight.
The plane, which was taken from a maintenance position and was not scheduled for passenger flight, crashed about an hour later in a wooded area on Ketron Island in rural Pierce County. No ground structures were involved at the crash site.
Military jets were scrambled from Portland, but it does not appear that these jets were involved in the crash of the Horizon aircraft.
This individual who took the aircraft, who has not yet been positively identified until remains are examined, is believed to have been the only person on the plane when the plane was taken from a maintenance position at Sea-Tac.
First responders are at the crash site. Appropriate government agencies, including NTSB, FAA and FBI, have been notified.
Update: 10:55 p.m. on Aug. 10, 2018 A brief statement from Constance von Muehlen of Horizon Air regarding tonightโs incident:
โGood evening, Iโm Constance von Muehlen, Horizon Air chief operating officer. Iโm sorry to share with you this evening that at approximately 8 p.m., one of our Q400 airplanes made an unauthorized takeoff from Sea-Tac Airport. We believe it was taken by a single Horizon Air employee and that no other passengers or crew were onboard. Shortly thereafter, it crashed on Ketron Island by South Tacoma. Our hearts are with the families of the individual aboard as well as all of our Alaska Air and Horizon Air employees. We will provide more information as it becomes available.โ
Update: 10 p.m. on Aug. 10, 2018ย
Alaska Airlines has confirmed that a Horizon Airlines Q400 that had an unauthorized takeoff from Sea-Tac International Airport around 8 p.m. has gone down near Ketron Island in Pierce County.
Alaska is working to confirm who was on board, but it is believed that there were no passengers or crew on board other than the person operating the plane. NTSB has been notified.
Original post: 9:32 p.m. on Aug. 10, 2018
We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more.
Alaska Airlines, theย Seattle-area’s hometown airline, announced today new daily nonstop service from Paine Field-Snohomish County Airport inย Everett, Washington. When commercial service begins at the airport in the fall,ย Alaskaย will offer 13 nonstop departures to eight cities every day with premium service and low fares, further working to become the go-to airline for anyone living on the West Coast.
Alaska’sย all-jet service will connect Paine Field toย Las Vegas;ย Los Angeles;ย Orange County, California;ย Phoenix;ย Portland;ย San Diego;ย San Francisco; andย San Jose, California. Flight frequencies for each destination along with departure and arrival times will be announced later in 2018, subject to government approval.
Withย Alaska’sย new service from Paine Field, those looking to catch a flight north ofย Seattleย and all around the North Sound (home to more than 1 million people) will have a new travel option closer to home. That’ll mean less driving to go farther south, saving time and fuel.
All Paine Field services will be operated by Horizon Air (below).
Flights from Paine Field will offer three classes of service: first class, premium class and main cabin. Guests will enjoy Wi-Fi connectivity, more than 200 free movies and TV shows that can be streamed on personal devices and free texting while onboard.
Propeller Airports andย Snohomish Countyย are currently building the new, state-of-the-art terminal at Paine Field. It’s set to open in fall 2018.
Alaska Horizon (Horizon Air) is planning to resume Embraer 175 deliveries again in March 2018 according to Seattle Times. Deliveries were halted this past summer by outgoing CEO Dave Campbell due to a pilot shortage that has eased up. SkyWest Airlines filled the void for Alaska Airlines with their Embraer 175s.
The new Embraer 175s will gradually replace the Bombardier Q400 turboprops.
Horizon Air (Alaska Horizon) has announced it will end its operations in Alaska on March 10, 2017. The company operates three Q400s in support of Alaska Airlines in Alaska. Crews will be offered positions in the Lower 48.
Alaska Airlines continues to expand service for San Diego guests with the addition of new daily nonstop flights to Albuquerque starting on October18, 2017. The new route is Alaska Airlines’ sixth new nonstop destination to launch from San Diego since August, as the airline continues to expand along the West Coast. Alaska Airlines will have 45 peak day flights to 29 nonstop destinations from San Diego by the end of 2017.
“We continue to invest in our San Diego focus city, with nine new nonstop destinations in 2017,” said John Kirby, Alaska’s vice president of capacity planning. “Whether traveling to Boston for business or Hawaii for pleasure, San Diego travelers will love our convenient schedules, affordable fares and award-winning loyalty program.”
Summary of new service:
Start Date
City pair
Departs
Arrives
Aircraft
Frequency
Oct.18
Albuquerque- San Diego
2:30 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
E175
Daily
Oct. 18
San Diego – Albuquerque
4:37 p.m.
7:19 p.m.
E175
Daily
*Flight times based on local time zones.
The new San Diego to Albuquerque flights will be operated by Horizon Air 76-seat Embraer 175 jets, which offer similar features as a mainline aircraft including first class and premium class services and in-flight Wi-Fi. The E175 features 12 seats in first class, 12 seats in premium class and 52 seats in the main cabin.
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