Alaska Airlines To Hire More Pilots, Flight Attendants

Alaska Airlines has been mired in a months-long nightmare of consistent, continued daily flight cancellations which CEO Ben Minicucci says account for about 50 trips – or four percent – of the airline’s scheduled departures every day.

In large part, Alaska has been greatly affected by a pilot shortage, an overall staffing shortage and weather issues.

Now Minicucci says he’s trying to do something about it, but will it be enough?

The CEO announced he will hire 150 pilots, 200 additional reservation agents and 1,100 flight attendants to hopefully offset the number of cancellations the airline has suffered, according to KING5-TV in Seattle.

In a video message sent to Alaska Airlines customers, Minicucci again apologized for the cancellations and hoped that the hiring spree would start to alleviate the situation.

“Even though we made immediate changes, it takes some time for a complex operation to turn the corner. The month of May will continue to be choppy, and we're doing everything we can to minimize the impact on you for June and beyond,” Minicucci said. “This along with the reductions we made to our schedule will ensure we run an operation that you can count on.”

Minicucci expects things to be back to normal by July, but he also faces another pilot problem – a potential strike. Voting by the union is underway and runs through May 25.