Hawaiian Airlines Pilots Lose Rare Beard Exception

New combined standard with Alaska Airlines takes effect this month.

Ryan Ewing

Friday, April 03, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

A Hawaiian Boeing 717 [Credit: Shutterstock/ Ritu Manoj Jethani]

Key Takeaways:

Hawaiian Airlines pilots will lose their unique allowance for beards as Alaska Air Group implements a combined uniform and appearance policy following their merger.
The decision to prohibit beards is based on safety concerns, citing FAA guidance and recommendations from the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute regarding the effectiveness of oxygen masks, further emphasized by a recent rapid decompression incident on Alaska Flight 1282.
This policy change ends Hawaiian's rare exception among U.S. airlines that permitted pilot beards, even though some recent studies have suggested facial hair does not compromise oxygen mask performance.

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Hawaiian Airlines pilots will lose a long-standing and unusual allowance for beards as Alaska Air Group rolls out a combined pilot uniform and appearance policy following the carriers’ merger.

In an internal email dated March 23 seen by AirlineGeeks.com, Alaska system chief pilot Scott Day told pilots that a “significant” revision to the flight operations manual (FOM) would be released April 1, including updates to the uniform and appearance policy. He said all Boeing 787 pilots would also begin transitioning to the Alaska uniform on April 20.