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, Alaska System Chief Pilot Scott Day told pilots that a “significant” revision to the Flight Operations Manual would be released on 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.

Day also flagged what he described as a major change in the revision, writing: “Going forward, facial hair must meet specific requirements to ensure compliance with FAA guidance and flight deck safety and beards will not be authorized.”

A March 27 follow-up message to Hawaiian pilots from Dave Mets – the company’s vice president of flight operations – offered additional detail on the decision.

In that note, Mets acknowledged the significance of the change, writing, “I recognize this is an important issue for many and do not want to be insensitive or vague about it in any way.” He added: “I fully understand that this is a policy decision many of you do not and may never agree with.”

Regulatory Review

Mets said the company had engaged with regulators multiple times over several years on the issue of beards and oxygen mask use, and said cockpit oxygen mask manufacturers have recommended against beards in the flight deck. He wrote that the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, or CAMI, had recently “reaffirmed its long-standing recommendation that for safety reasons, beards should not be allowed in the flight deck.”

The company’s decision comes even as the issue remains contested beyond U.S. airline policy circles. The FAA advisory circular often cited in beard-related mask guidance, AC 120-43, dates to 1987 and remains active. More recent research has pointed in a different direction.

A 2024 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University study found no evidence that facial hair caused mask leaks, hypoxia, or chemical exposure issues in testing involving commercial-style oxygen masks. Earlier research from Simon Fraser University likewise found facial hair did not compromise mask performance in its study, work the university said helped support Air Canada’s move to permit pilot beards.

He said the airline also reviewed FAA regulations, manufacturer specifications, and placards as part of a safety risk assessment tied to development of the combined policy. According to Mets, that review concluded: “our safest and most compliant path forward was to prohibit beards in the flight deck in our combined uniform policy.”

Mets also tied the issue to a recent real-world event, writing that “our own very recent experience with Alaska Flight 1282 demonstrated the seriousness of this topic as our pilots had to don their O2 masks due to the rapid decompression that occurred.”

The updated Flight Operations Manual reflects that change directly. The revised appearance standard says a well-groomed mustache remains approved, but “beards are not allowed.”

The move ends a policy that had made Hawaiian one of the few U.S. airlines to permit pilot beards. The broader issue has remained a point of debate across the industry.

‘Longstanding FAA Guidance’

In a statement to AirlineGeeks, Alaska said: “Safety is our priority, and Alaska and Hawaiian’s policy to prohibit facial hair for pilots across our combined airline is based on longstanding FAA guidance, as well as our own studies over many years.”

The company also sought to distinguish the beard decision from broader questions about Hawaiian’s identity within the merged airline.

Mets wrote that Alaska leadership has “absolutely no desire or intention to diminish the way Hawaiian Airlines and/or Hawaiian culture is celebrated and respected within our combined company,” pointing to continued investment in the Hawaiian brand, airport infrastructure, cabin upgrades, and other appearance-policy changes, including a more relaxed tattoo standard.

The Air Line Pilots Association represents pilots at both carriers.

“For decades, Hawaiian Airlines has maintained an outstanding safety record and nothing about that record suggests this change is necessary or warranted,” a spokesperson from Hawaiian’s ALPA Master Executive Committee said in a statement. “Beyond the operational question, several of our pilots with Native Hawaiian ancestry have made clear that this policy disregards the cultural and personal significance that facial hair holds within Hawaiian culture. ALPA takes those concerns seriously, and we believe the airline should as well. We are currently engaged with Alaska Airlines management to review this decision, and we are asking that the beard prohibition be rescinded. Our pilots deserve policies that reflect both the realities of their professional performance and respect for their cultural identities.”

The two pilot groups are still represented separately within ALPA and are currently negotiating a joint collective bargaining agreement. Under the union merger process, their seniority lists would be integrated only after that contract is ratified, with a single pilot group and master executive council to follow.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Monday, April 6 at 11:20 a.m. ET to add a statement from ALPA.