Alaska Airlines has elevated Ben Brookman to Vice President of Real Estate and Airport Affairs, a pivotal leadership move that underscores the carrier’s ambitions to scale its infrastructure and expand across domestic and international markets. Announced on February 12, 2026, the promotion consolidates oversight of airport access, real estate strategy and capital investments at a moment when Alaska and its Hawaiian brand are deepening their global footprint and committing more than 3 billion dollars to hub airport upgrades. For travelers, the decision signals a long-term bet on smoother journeys, better terminals and more seamless connectivity across North America, Latin America, Asia, the Pacific and, beginning in spring 2026, Europe.
A Strategic Appointment at a Transformational Moment
Brookman’s promotion comes as Alaska Air Group pursues one of its most significant phases of growth and integration to date. The airline’s network now spans more than 140 destinations, including 29 international markets, with new intercontinental routes out of Seattle that will connect guests to Rome, London, Reykjavik, Tokyo and Seoul by mid-2026. As Alaska and Hawaiian move forward as one team under two distinct brands, the company is reshaping its presence at key airports to handle more capacity, more connections and more global travelers.
In this context, real estate and airport affairs are no longer back-office functions. They sit at the heart of how an airline grows, how quickly it can add new routes and how reliably it can operate. Brookman will lead the team responsible for strategizing Alaska’s airport access and infrastructure needs worldwide, as well as managing its corporate real estate. His mandate links bricks-and-mortar decisions directly to network planning and customer experience, ensuring that new route announcements are matched by the gates, lounges, ramp space and terminal facilities required to deliver on them.
Alaska has framed this moment as transformational, pointing to both the breadth of its emerging international network and the depth of its planned capital investments. The airline is modernizing existing hubs, building out new gate complexes and reconfiguring terminal spaces to reduce choke points for security, baggage and boarding. With Brookman in place, the carrier aims to bring greater cohesion to these projects, aligning real estate decisions across Alaska and Hawaiian and across continents.
From Airport Affairs to Global Real Estate Leadership
Brookman steps into the vice president role after serving as Managing Director of Airport Affairs since November 2021, a position in which he has already shaped much of Alaska’s current infrastructure strategy. In that capacity, he led airport planning efforts across the airline’s global network, overseeing master plans, facility concepts and operational requirements at both established hubs and emerging focus cities. He has also coordinated contract negotiations, including leases and operating agreements, that govern how the airline uses airport space from gates and ticket counters to hangars and office facilities.
Under his leadership, Alaska has advanced a long-term airport infrastructure strategy aimed at supporting growth while maintaining the operational reliability for which the brand is known. Brookman has been instrumental in integrating Alaska and Hawaiian airport locations, a complex undertaking that involves harmonizing operations across dozens of airports, from Honolulu and Kona to Seattle, Portland, Anchorage, Los Angeles and beyond. By aligning how the two brands approach everything from counter layouts to baggage systems, the airline is laying the groundwork for a more seamless experience for guests connecting between networks.
Brookman’s prior tenure at Alaska also included serving as Director of Network and Capacity Planning, where he helped drive the growth of the company’s hometown Seattle hub and developed the Portland and San Diego networks. That experience on the commercial and planning side gives him an insider’s understanding of how infrastructure constraints can limit growth and how smart real estate decisions can unlock new opportunities. His portfolio now connects those dots at a higher level, linking infrastructure vision to route expansion in a more formal and strategic way.
Investing Over 3 Billion Dollars in Airport Infrastructure
Central to Brookman’s new role is the stewardship of Alaska’s multibillion-dollar investment in airport infrastructure. The airline has committed more than 3 billion dollars to projects across its hub airports, with an eye toward creating a world-class guest experience at every stage of the journey. These projects range from terminal expansions and gate reconfigurations to new lounges, upgraded check-in zones and improved baggage and security systems. The objective is not only to support more flights but also to make those flights feel simpler, faster and more comfortable for travelers.
For domestic travelers, the investments mean more efficient throughput at major hubs like Seattle, Portland, Anchorage, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Additional gates, redesigned gate pods and improved ramp operations can shorten aircraft turn times, reduce delays and improve on-time performance. For guests, that translates into quicker boarding, fewer crowding pinch points at the gate and more reliable connections, especially during peak travel seasons when every minute counts.
International travelers will see the impact in upgraded international facilities, better wayfinding between customs and connecting flights, and expanded lounge and seating areas that reflect Alaska’s effort to compete as a global carrier. Given the complexity of cross-border operations, real estate planning becomes a tool not only for comfort but for regulatory and security compliance. Brookman’s team will be working with airport authorities across different jurisdictions to ensure that new spaces meet diverse safety, customs and immigration requirements while still feeling coherent as part of the Alaska and Hawaiian brands.
Supporting Expansion Across Domestic and International Markets
Alaska’s ambitious expansion plan highlights why the vice president of real estate and airport affairs position is vital to network growth. From its global gateway in Seattle, the airline is adding new intercontinental flights to Rome, London Heathrow and Reykjavik in spring 2026, joining already operating services to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon. Each of these routes requires slot coordination, gate allocation, ground handling arrangements and sometimes even custom terminal modifications to meet local requirements and deliver the desired guest experience.
At the same time, Alaska continues to refine its domestic network, particularly on the West Coast and throughout the Pacific region. Seattle, Portland and San Diego remain essential building blocks for both leisure and business travel, feeding flights into Alaska’s broader network and connecting guests to smaller communities, major financial centers and vacation destinations. Real estate decisions at these airports can affect everything from minimum connection times to how intuitively travelers move between concourses.
Hawaiian’s network adds another layer, with existing routes to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. As Alaska upgrades the interiors of its A330 widebody aircraft under the Hawaiian brand, it will also need airport facilities that can support the premium experience being built onboard. Lounges, boarding areas, gate technology and back-of-house operations need to complement cabin upgrades in order to create a cohesive, end-to-end journey. Brookman’s role is designed to make that alignment possible.
Strengthening Hubs and Enhancing the Guest Journey
For travelers flying with Alaska or Hawaiian, many of the changes driven by Brookman’s portfolio will be felt rather than seen. A smoother arrival into a hub airport, a shorter walk between gates, faster baggage delivery or a more intuitive security checkpoint are the downstream results of complex real estate and infrastructure planning. Alaska is clear that its hub airports, especially Seattle and Honolulu, are not just transit points, but gateways that shape first and lasting impressions of the brands.
In Seattle, where Alaska has long anchored its operations, new investments are expected to improve gate availability, streamline flows between domestic and international concourses and support the addition of long-haul routes. For Honolulu, investments in passenger facilities and behind-the-scenes operations aim to better accommodate connecting traffic between North America, Asia and the South Pacific. Other hubs, including Anchorage, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, will also see targeted upgrades that reflect their distinct roles in the network.
From a traveler’s perspective, the benefits should manifest in more predictable operations and a sense that airports feel less chaotic, even as traffic grows. Well-planned gate banks, improved boarding processes and more intuitive terminal layouts can help reduce missed connections, congestion at bottlenecks and stress associated with tight transfer windows. By tying these improvements to broader network growth, Alaska is signaling that it wants to compete not only on fares and routes but also on how it feels to move through its key airports.
Leadership Structure and Vision for Sustainable Growth
Brookman will report to Shane Jones, Senior Vice President of Fleet, Revenue Products and Real Estate, a role that mirrors the increasing interconnectedness of commercial strategy, aircraft decisions and real estate planning. Jones, a 20 year industry veteran, already leads the strategy for Alaska’s aircraft fleet and ancillary revenue products, as well as its expanding hub airport investment program. Bringing Brookman into this portfolio tightens the coordination between what aircraft Alaska flies, where it flies them and what airport facilities those aircraft need to operate efficiently.
This integrated leadership structure is designed to deliver more sustainable growth. Decisions about adding a new long-haul route, for example, can now be analyzed alongside gate availability, customs capacity, lounge space and future terminal projects. The same is true for domestic expansions, where fleet deployment, schedule design and airport capacity need to align to prevent over-congestion or underutilized assets. Under Jones, Brookman’s team will provide the real estate and infrastructure lens through which major network decisions are evaluated.
Alaska has also made clear that sustainability is part of its long-term infrastructure strategy. Modernizing terminals and ground operations can reduce energy usage, streamline aircraft taxi times and support alternative power sources for aircraft on the ground. While real estate and airport affairs might not be the most visible part of a sustainability plan, they are critical for implementing greener technologies, from gate electrification to more efficient baggage and cargo facilities.
A Veteran Industry Career Shaping the Future of Travel
Brookman brings 17 years of experience in aviation and logistics to the vice president position. Beyond his roles at Alaska, his career includes commercial and real estate positions at Sun Country Airlines, US Airways and Amazon Air. That mix of passenger airline and cargo-focused experience gives him a broad perspective on how airport facilities function in different business models and how they can be optimized for both operational reliability and customer or client satisfaction.
At US Airways and Sun Country, Brookman would have been exposed to network restructuring, cost management and airport negotiations in highly competitive markets. At Amazon Air, the focus on speed, reliability and logistics precision likely sharpened his understanding of how infrastructure can make or break on-time performance. Those lessons are increasingly relevant as Alaska moves more deeply into international markets where tight scheduling and complex connections demand a high level of operational discipline.
Now, in his new role, Brookman’s challenge is to translate that deep industry knowledge into a real estate and airport portfolio that supports Alaska’s vision to be a truly global airline with a distinctive guest experience. His track record in planning, negotiation and integration suggests he is well positioned to manage the airport side of the airline’s evolution, ensuring that growth is matched by the hard assets required to sustain it.
What Brookman’s Promotion Means for Travelers
For travelers following airline news, executive promotions often feel distant from the day-to-day realities of flying. In this case, however, the appointment of a vice president dedicated to real estate and airport affairs directly affects what journeys will look and feel like in the coming years. As Alaska Air Group continues integrating Hawaiian, opens new transoceanic routes and refines its domestic network, every gate swap, lounge expansion and terminal redesign will shape how easy or difficult it is to move from check in to takeoff and from arrival to onward connection.
Guests flying through Alaska’s major hubs can expect to see ongoing construction and phased improvements, but also the tangible benefits that come with more modern facilities. International travelers heading to or from Europe and Asia on new Alaska flights from Seattle will rely on terminal configurations and signage that make customs, security and transfers less confusing. Within Hawaii and across the broader Pacific, modernized facilities and better coordinated airport operations will aim to preserve the relaxed feel of island travel while meeting the demands of higher traffic volumes.
Ultimately, Brookman’s promotion to Vice President of Real Estate and Airport Affairs puts a seasoned aviation leader in charge of the physical spaces that define an airline’s identity. As Alaska builds out its presence at home and abroad, those spaces will be central to delivering on the company’s promise of a travel experience rooted in safety, care and performance. For travelers, the impact will be felt in the details: shorter lines, clearer paths, more comfortable waiting areas and an increasingly global network that feels easier to navigate.