Excitation functions for 89Y [(α,3n); (α,4n); (α,p3n); (α,αn); (α,α2n)] reactions were measured up to 50 MeV using stacked foil activation technique and HPGe gamma ray spectroscopy method. The experimental data were compared with calculations considering equilibrium as well as preequilibrium reactions according to the hybrid model of Blann (ALICE/90). For (α,xnyp) type of reactions, the precompound contributions are described by the model. There seems to be indications of direct inelastic scattering effects in (α,αxn) type of reactions. To the best of our knowledge, the excitation functions for (α,4n), (α,p3n), (α,αn) and (α,α2n) reactions were measured for the first time.