Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Elevate Leadership with Industry Veterans

(IN SHORT) Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have announced strategic leadership promotions, underscoring their commitment to safety, reliability, and customer experience. Shane Jones, a 20-year industry veteran, has been promoted to senior vice president of fleet, revenue products, and real estate at Alaska Airlines, tasked with overseeing critical investments and strategic partnerships to enhance guest experiences and operational efficiency. Meanwhile, Horizon Air welcomes Nathan Engel, a 36-year industry veteran, as vice president of maintenance & engineering, responsible for leading maintenance operations and ensuring safety standards are upheld. These appointments highlight the airlines’ dedication to driving excellence in aviation operations and customer service through seasoned leadership.

(PRESS RELEASE) SEATTLE, WA, 2024-May-16— /Travel PR News/ — The boards of directors of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air announced two leadership additions, promoting two industry veterans into important roles at each of the airlines.

Both bring forward-thinking leadership and proven abilities to execute on complex initiatives that have a direct impact on strengthening Alaska Air Group’s safety and reliability, growing our operations and financial results, and giving guests a premium experience when they fly with us.

Alaska Airlines promotes 20-year industry veteran Shane Jones to senior vice president of fleet, revenue products and real estate
Alaska Airlines has promoted 20-year industry veteran Shane Jones to senior vice president of fleet, revenue products and real estate.

Jones, who joined Alaska in 2018 as vice president of real estate and development, has managed the airline’s strategy and $3 billion investments in hub airports, focused on enabling growth, enhancing the guest experience at airports, and ensuring safe, reliable and efficient operations.

Additionally, he leads the business strategy for growing ancillary revenues and guest choices through new revenue products and business partnerships.

In this expanded role, Jones also will lead the development and planning of mainline and regional aircraft and overall fleet strategy, including working with aircraft manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, and lessors on safety and quality assurance, opportunities to improve sustainability through aircraft design and management, optimizing delivery schedules and financing.

“With the addition of fleet strategy, Shane’s new role connects our Commercial growth strategy across our hub and airport investments to the critical investments we are making in our aircraft over time,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci. “At the heart of this work is the customer experience, whether it be on board our future aircraft, in our lobbies or gates, or through the new products and partnerships his team is developing.”

Jones will report to Alaska’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison, with a dotted line reporting relationship to Executive Vice President of Finance and CFO Shane Tackett.

Prior to joining Alaska, Jones spent 13 years at Delta Air Lines, where he served as vice president of corporate real estate and airport development, responsible for Delta’s global airport and real estate assets. He also served as manager of capital markets, where he worked on restructuring and renegotiating Delta’s aircraft leases.

Horizon Air names 36-year industry veteran Nathan Engel as vice president of maintenance & engineering
Horizon Air named 36-year industry veteran Nathan Engel as vice president of maintenance and  engineering, overseeing a critically important function of the airline’s focus on safety and reliability.

In this role, he will manage the long-term strategy and financial performance of Horizon’s maintenance & engineering workgroup, leading a team of over 300 industry professionals who are deeply committed to the airline’s culture of safety. Among his responsibilities are line maintenance operations, airframe/component/engine maintenance, quality assurance, maintenance planning, engineering and reliability, fleet projects, and stores and distribution.

Engel steps into this role from a multi-decade career in maintenance and engineering leadership, with deep experience at Alaska and Horizon and broader experience from other companies.

“Nathan’s extensive background and expertise in commercial aviation maintenance and relentless focus on maintenance’s critical role in ensuring safety and reliability will be pivotal in this role,” said Horizon Air President Jason Berry. “In addition, he is a people leader, focused on driving performance and collaboration, which makes him a valued addition to our Horizon Air leadership team.”

Previously, Engel served as managing director of maintenance and operations at both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, responsible for strategic and operational leadership for line, heavy, and on-call maintenance, maintenance control, and quality control. He also worked for Amazon and most recently for Hawaiian Airlines as senior manager of maintenance in Seattle.

He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

Media Contact:

Media Relations
(206) 304-0008
newsroom@alaskaair.com

SOURCE: Alaska Airlines

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