Alaska Air changes cargo leaders in wake of Hawaiian merger

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Alaska Airlines operates five narrowbody freighters, including two Boeing 737-800s (pictured), that operate between Los Angeles, Seattle and Alaska. (Photo: Alaska Airlines)

Alaska Airlines on Monday announced a leadership change in its cargo division one week after finalizing the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, adding expertise in areas such as international cargo operations and widebody freighter aircraft that are new for the airline and critical to support the flying service for Amazon it inherited.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) said it hired Ian Morgan as vice president of cargo at Alaska Airlines and that Jason Berry, the president of regional subsidiary Horizon Air who previously headed Air Canada’s cargo division, will oversee the cargo business after being promoted to executive vice president of the group. Berry will continue in his role as Horizon’s president.

Morgan succeeds Adam Drouhard, managing director of cargo, at the head of Alaska Air Cargo. He will lead day-to-day cargo operations and nearly 600 cargo employees. He will also be responsible for managing the continued growth of Alaska Air Group’s cargo business – operated by both Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

He has decades of experience working with large international cargo airlines. Morgan joins Alaska from ECS Group, a cargo handling agency where he was U.S. commercial director for the past year. The industry veteran spent the previous nine years as vice president cargo, North and South America, for Qatar Airways, the world’s largest air cargo operator by volume. He also spent 12 years as the top executive in the Americas for Cargolux, a major operator of Boeing 747 freighters, and in senior leadership roles at British Airways and defunct Centurion Airlines.

An Alaska Air spokesperson declined to provide additional details, including about Drouhard’s status at the company and whether he will work under Morgan. Drouhard’s LinkedIn page still lists him as managing director of cargo.

Alaska Airlines operates three Boeing 737-700s and two 737-800 converted freighters acquired this year. For years the airline has operated cargo routes between Seattle and cities in Alaska. In June, Alaska Air Cargo began offering twice-weekly service to Los Angeles from Seattle. The 737s are narrowbody freighters. Qatar Airways Cargo, by comparison, operates 28 Boeing 777 freighters and manages belly shipments in more than 220 widebody passenger aircraft. The 777 freighter can carry four to five times as much cargo as a 737-700/800.

Hawaiian Airlines operates two dozen long-range A330-200 passenger jets and has started taking delivery of new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The large aircraft are used on long-range routes to Japan and the United States but offer the opportunity for Alaska to expand into other international markets. Alaska Air’s management has said that the two cargo networks compliment each other and that the ability to connect to more destinations will help attract shippers.

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The company intends to operate Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines as separate brands but under a single operating certificate. The merger also puts Alaska Airlines in charge of Hawaiian’s new venture flying e-commerce packages around the United States for Amazon. Hawaiian currently operates six Airbus A330-300 cargo jets supplied by Amazon, with four more converted A330s scheduled to join the fleet by early 2025.

Berry spent six years directing cargo operations at Alaska Airlines before joining Air Canada in early 2021 as vice president of cargo. He left Air Canada and returned to Alaska Air in February 2023 for personal reasons.

Berry helped develop the business case for Air Canada’s establishing a new freighter airline and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in an all-cargo fleet. Air Canada currently has six Boeing 767-300 freighters that it converted from passenger configuration and two factory-built 767 cargo jets. The airline recently parked the two late-model freighters because of soft demand.

Berry also was the architect of Air Canada’s freighter network, which includes destinations in the United States, South America and Europe. And he pushed for Air Canada’s expansion of a refrigerated warehouse in Toronto and the cargo terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, as well as partnerships with digital freight marketplaces.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled about this next chapter for Alaska Air Cargo,” said Group President and CEO Ben Minicucci, in the announcement. “With these leaders, we’re well positioned for unlimited future success as we grow and expand our cargo operations to deliver for everyone who depends on us.”

Alaska and Hawaiian will gradually integrate cargo operations in the coming weeks and months, Alaska Air Cargo said on its website.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper articles by Eric Kulisch.

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.

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