Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Air Group Inc. It plans to cut 73 people from its 1,400 non-contract workforce in Hawaii and the mainland following its recent merger with .

The layoffs come more than a month after Alaska Airlines’ parent company, Alaska Air Group, announced on Sept. 18 that it had completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines’ parent company, Hawaiian Holdings. The merger is the first major U.S. airline combination since 2016, when federal regulators allowed Alaska to merge with Virgin America.

Hawaii spokesman Alex Da Silva said the vast majority of Hawaii’s 1,400 non-contract employees “have received offers to stay with the combined organization for at least 6 months, and while the goal is to retain most people for a year or longer, many are long-term offers.” “We also continue to encourage everyone to apply for open positions within our combined organization.”

Da Silva added: “We expect some non-contract temporary positions tied to specific integration phases to be finalized once projects are completed in the next 6 to 18 months.”

Further reductions may occur as airlines move closer to operating under a single operating certificate. Aviation historian Peter Forman said more layoffs of non-bargaining members were expected, especially as temporary jobs ended.

“That’s such a small number of layoffs that I would imagine there could be more, but maybe not significantly more,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of overlapping routes, so I think there will be fewer layoffs than in most mergers, but there are obviously layoffs in the front office as well.”

For now, the layoffs include 57 people from Hawaii and 16 more from the mainland. “primarily due to their repetitive, non-contracted operations support roles at airports,” da Silva said.

Andy Schneider, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of the People Team, announced the Hawaii workforce reduction in a required Notice of Worker Adjustment and Retraining to state Labor and Industrial Relations Director Jade Butay on Thursday afternoon.

Those laid off in Hawaii include 52 people from Hawaiian’s corporate headquarters, where it employs 825 people, four people from Hawaiian’s air cargo hangar, where it employs 213 people, and one person from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, where it employs 87 people.

Da Silva said all 73 non-contract employees leaving Hawaiian will keep their jobs through Dec. 17, which is 90 days from the closing of the merger. He said they will receive their salaries by the end of the year and receive both a compensation and severance package, as well as personalized job placement services.

“We know this is a very challenging time for our team members and we are committed to supporting everyone through their career transition,” da Silva said.

These latest personnel changes at Hawaiian follow in-person meetings between Hawaiian’s non-contract employees and the newly formed transition team over the past few weeks. Those talks ended earlier this month.

They also come after significant merger-related personnel leadership changes. Peter Ingram resigned as president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines after the transaction was completed. While Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines’ Hawaii/Pacific regional president, takes over as CEO of Hawaiian Airlines to lead the interim leadership team overseeing Hawaii’s operations, Alaska is trying to obtain a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Other leadership departures include Aaron Alter, Hawaiian’s chief legal officer; Avi Mannis, Hawaiian’s marketing manager; Brent Overbeek, Hawaiian’s chief revenue officer; Jon Snook, Hawaii’s chief operating officer; Robin Sparling, Hawaiian’s Inflight Services; and Rob Sorenson, Hawaiian’s marketing and e-commerce.

Meanwhile, the airlines will continue to operate as separate carriers with no immediate changes to their operations. Integration of websites, reservation systems and loyalty programs will occur in later stages of the transition, Sprague said. The goal is for the two airlines to eventually operate as a single carrier with an integrated passenger service system. However, he said both airlines will maintain their separate brand identities.

The combined airline employs approximately 33,000 people in North America, Asia and the Pacific.

Hawaiian’s airline unions, which represent nearly 6,000 workers, were assured from the beginning of the merger process that Hawaiian would preserve and grow union jobs, and the unions have been strong supporters throughout the regulatory process.

Heading into his first day of leadership in Hawaii, Sprague told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the airline would work with labor unions to consolidate severance and that the combined airline would negotiate new joint collective bargaining agreements with union workers.

These workforce decisions come at a time when labor costs are a major focus for many airlines, especially Hawaii.

Presenting an outlook on air services at the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s Hawaii chapter event on Wednesday, Jeffrey Eslinger, senior director of market insights for the Hawai’i Visitors and Convention Bureau, noted that top U.S. airlines are set for record revenue in 2024. But Eslinger said, “They also had record spending. Their revenues increased by 2%, but their expenses increased by 3%.”

He said 54% of an airline’s entire expenses are labor and fuel, and those costs and others influence the airline’s decision to commit to a long-haul destination like Hawaii.

Eslinger said labor makes up 33% of operating costs at Hawaiian, which has the second-highest operating expenses due to labor after Southwest Airlines.