Alaska Airlines names new VP of maintenance and engineering

Alaska Airlines has named John Wiitala as its new vice president of maintenance and engineering. In this principal leadership role, Wiitala will lead professionals throughout the division who maintain the highest levels of safety and compliance with more than 237 mainline Boeing aircraft across multiple maintenance bases.

Wiitala joins Alaska after 34 years with United Airlines, most recently as vice president and chief engineer of tech operations, safety and compliance, where he was responsible for the United fleet. Prior to that role, he was vice president of technical services. Wiitala joined United in 1992 and held other engineering jobs throughout the organization including director of engineering and managing director of project engineering.  

His responsibilities at Alaska will include line maintenance operations; maintenance of airframes, components and engines; stores and distribution; quality assurance; maintenance planning; engineering and reliability; and fleet projects.   

Among his accomplishments at United, he expanded the scope of operations of the airline, which grew from under 450 aircraft to 944. He was on board during the United-Continental merger, helping the airline successfully navigate integration and grow its multi-fleet operations.