Thirteen people on Oahu are losing their jobs, and a far bigger number has been making the rounds. The Hawaiian Airlines layoffs filed this month cover 13 non-union jobs, according to a KITV report on the state WARN notice. It is not 530.
Where the 530 number came from
One headline said Hawaiian was laying off “over 530” employees. That figure is the size of the pool, not the size of the cut. About 537 non-contract employees work at the three affected Oahu locations, and the 13 positions come out of that group.
The outlet behind that headline gets it right in the body. The Simple Flying story lists the same 13 positions, so the headline and the article disagree with each other. Errors like that travel fast on social media, and this one has inflated the Hawaiian Airlines layoffs story far beyond what was filed.
Pool size is not a layoff count. The difference matters to the workers who are actually affected, and to the hundreds who are not.
What the Hawaiian Airlines WARN notice actually covers
The company filed the WARN notice with the state on Oct. 2. It covers non-union workers at three sites. Eleven positions are at the Honolulu corporate headquarters. One is at the cargo hangar. One is at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
The cuts should take effect in December and January. Alaska Airlines says they are permanent, but it does not expect to close any facilities. Hawaiian has not said which specific roles the cuts affect.
The WARN Act requires at least 60 days’ notice of possible mass layoffs, so the timing tracks. Simple Flying also reports that the company is offering affected employees retention bonuses, severance and job-search help.
Here’s the thing: these Hawaiian Airlines job cuts are a pattern
Thirteen jobs is a small number, but the trend is not small. Alaska closed its acquisition of Hawaiian in September 2024, and non-union cuts have come in waves since then. By one count, four earlier rounds totaled 418 positions through March 2026, including 252 in July 2025 alone. Sources disagree on some of the earlier totals, so treat that as a ballpark.
The March round hit 48 workers, mostly at headquarters. Alaska said those people held “interim roles” created during integration. When two airlines become one, two sets of back-office jobs rarely survive. Other big employers are trimming too, as our look at reported Netflix layoffs shows.
Alaska has also pledged to keep its unionized employees as part of regulatory approval of the deal. That explains why Hawaiian downsizing keeps landing on non-union staff. The airline says it has added more than 1,200 Hawaiian employees in 18 months, mostly in union roles, and plans to hire 800 more Hawaii-based workers.
What to watch after the latest Hawaiian Airlines layoffs
The 13-job count comes from a single local report, and we could not find the state filing itself published anywhere. Neither Alaska nor Hawaiian has issued a statement on this round. We’ll update this story if they do. Corporate consolidation is also playing out elsewhere, as the Best Buy outsourcing fight shows.
For now, the accurate number is smaller than the viral one, but the open question is bigger: how many more rounds of Hawaiian Airlines layoffs will the merger bring, and who will be next?
