Last year, Tim Jordan’s boss sent him an email asking if he had ideas for motorizing the heavy boarding ramps for Horizon’s Embraer 175 aircraft, which required four people per ramp to manually move into place. “I emailed him right back with, ‘Challenge accepted.'”

Captain Robert Hunt is known for being approachable, calm, patient and empathetic about the challenges of becoming an airline pilot.

Flight attendants are “an oasis of calm” for guests, says Peterson, who has been with Alaska Airlines for nearly 30 years and named a “Customer Service Legend” at Alaska Airlines this year.