Alaska Air Group has announced a series of leadership changes, splitting the president and COO role at Alaska Airlines and naming a new president to the group’s regional subsidiary Horizon Air.
The Seattle-based group announced Nov. 8 that Alaska Airlines president Ben Minicucci—who oversaw the carrier’s acquisition and integration of Virgin America—will relinquish his role as COO to Gary Beck, effective immediately. Beck, who will also be an EVP at Alaska, had spent the last two years serving as president and COO of Horizon. Prior to that, he served as VP of Alaska’s flight operations division from 2008 to 2015.
Taking over Beck’s former post as Horizon president is Joe Sprague, who retired from Alaska in 2017 after spending 17 years at the company serving in a variety of leadership positions. Sprague will report directly to Group chairman and CEO Brad Tilden.
«Together, these talented executives bring more than four decades of expertise working across a wide variety of divisions at Alaska Air Group,» Tilden said in a statement. «We’ve doubled in size in just the past five years. Their experience and leadership abilities will be crucial as we continue to grow and navigate new opportunities and challenges»…
