Alaska boosts efforts to reach growing Hispanic Market.

When Alaska Airlines’ jets first landed in Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta in 1988, part of the carrier’s rationale was to increase use of aircraft that weren’t needed during the winter in its namesake state.

Today, the airline serves 10 Mexico cities and generates significant profits. More than one-quarter of Alaska’s customers flying between Seattle/Portland and Los Angeles International Airport start or end their trip south of the border. From LAX, Alaska carries nearly half of all travelers flying to Los Cabos and 55 percent of those bound for Puerto Vallarta.

“Speaking their language and understanding the Hispanic culture is the right thing to do socially and morally,” says Don Garvett, vice president of strategy and corporate development for Alaska Air Group. “But Latin America is also good for our business.”

Attracting Hispanics to fly on — and work for — Alaska Airlines, Garvett says, means more than speaking their language on the ground and in the air. It also entails understanding their culture and connecting with them in their communities.

A three-year effort by a cross-divisional team of some 20 management employees is working on all of that through a variety of initiatives.

Employee involvement

The Latin Culture Steering Committee, a cross-divisional team of mostly frontline employees who understand the Latin market, was formed to assist the airline with identifying opportunities and implementing change.

On the Web

Last October, alaskaair.com launched a Spanish-language version of the Web site that now includes some 3,000 pages of content.

At the airport

Bilingual check-in kiosks have been installed at all Alaska and Horizon stations. In Puerto Vallarta, signs in English and Spanish now guide customers to agent and baggage assistance and first class/MVP lines. Standardized bilingual signs will soon be unveiled in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Recruitment

Spanish-speaking employees have been available for Alaska Airlines customers since Mexico service began, but many retired early under the Voluntary Severance Incentive (VSI) program. Now, the Phoenix Reservations Center has just 20 bilingual agents while another 17 work in the Boise and Seattle call centers.

Recent tests found that about 2 percent of customers who call reservations prefer to speak Spanish, which means the airline needs more bilingual agents to handle the volume. The goal is to enable customers to specify their preferred language at the start of a call — rather than making them talk to an English-speaking agent first — or for Alaska Airlines to use a translation service, says Lane Kemper, director of reservations.

Reservations and Inflight have developed cultural awareness teams to help improve the airline’s efforts to recruit and retain bilingual employees in Reservations, Inflight, Customer Care, and at the Los Angeles and Seattle stations. Team members attend job fairs and cultural events on Alaska’s behalf.

In the air

Prerecorded safety announcements in Spanish are made before takeoff and landing on all Boeing 737s flying between LAX and any destination. These Spanish announcements are also made on Seattle-Miami flights.

The airline employs 22 flight attendants who speak English and Spanish and is working to hire more. A bilingual flight attendant is usually present on service between Los Angeles and Mexico City and Guadalajara, wearing a pin labeled a su servicio (at your service). A Spanish-speaking passenger service supervisor is also onboard these flights to help travelers fill out customs and immigration forms and handle other issues.

Three sections of Alaska Airlines Magazine are translated into Spanish, including CEO Bill Ayer’s monthly message, customs and immigration information, and airport directions for international travelers connecting through Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Marketing

Twelve percent of Alaska Airlines’ ad budget is devoted to Spanish-language materials. Earlier this year, the carrier retained the ad agency Acento to increase its focus on the Hispanic market. Recently, an ad campaign in newspapers, on radio and the Spanish-language TV channel Azteca rolled out in the L.A. area. The campaign’s tagline incorporates a mutual aspect of Mexico’s geography and its people: “When you think about Mexico’s warmth … think Alaska Airlines.”