Alaska Air and Horizon Air confirm leadership appointments

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have promoted two experienced members of staff to prominent roles. Alaska Airlines has promoted 20-year industry veteran Shane Jones to senior vice president of fleet, revenue products and real estate, while Horizon Air have named 36-year industry veteran Nathan Engel as vice president of maintenance & engineering. Jones, who joined Alaska in 2018 as vice president of real estate and development, has managed the airline's strategy and investments in hub airports. In this expanded role, Jones also will lead the development and planning of mainline and regional aircraft and overall fleet strategy. ""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."" Engel steps into his role from a multi-decade career in maintenance and engineering leadership, with experience at Alaska and Horizon, as well as other companies. 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. ""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.""