Hawaiian Airways is pulling again flights to Asia and chopping its longest home U.S. route. As an alternative, the airline will fly extra frequencies to Australia, Tahiti — and, above all else, between Honolulu and the U.S. West Coast.
Hawaiian introduced the community shakeup late Tuesday, revealing plans to droop its nonstop service between Honolulu’s Daniel Okay. Inouye Worldwide Airport (HNL) and three locations:
- Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS), efficient Nov. 19
- Incheon Worldwide Airport (ICN) in Seoul, South Korea, efficient Nov. 21
- Fukuoka Airport (FUK) in Fukuoka, Japan, efficient Nov. 19
As an alternative, Hawaiian will enhance the variety of weekly flights it operates on a handful of home and worldwide routes through the peak Hawaii journey months.
Why is Hawaiian chopping flights?
Tuesday’s route cuts are merely economics, Hawaiian mentioned: these three flights had underperformed expectations, the service defined in a assertion asserting the information — particularly pointing to lagging journey demand from Asia to Hawaii ever because the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guests to the Aloha State from Japan had been down 54% in 2024 versus 2019, in accordance with information from the Hawaii Tourism Authority — due partially to weak point within the yen.
South Korea guests to Hawaii had been down by almost a 3rd in contrast with 2019.
“It is at all times a troublesome determination to droop a route, particularly in cities like Seoul, which we’ve loved serving for over 14 years,” Hawaiian CEO Joe Sprague mentioned Tuesday, whereas noting the service does “stay dedicated” to its remaining Japan companies from Honolulu.
Hawaiian nonetheless flies from its HNL hub to Tokyo by way of Haneda Airport (HND), in addition to to Osaka’s Kansai Worldwide Airport (KIX).
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As for Boston, Hawaiian had stiff competitors from Delta Air Traces on the longest home U.S. route from HNL to BOS.
Extra flights to the South Pacific and the U.S. West Coast
Whereas Hawaiian could also be shrinking its route map, the service is including extra flights to a handful of cities through the Hawaii journey months.
Between mid-December and the tip of January, the airline will make its HNL flights to Sydney Airport (SYD) a every day fixture. It will additionally add a second weekly flight to Faaa Worldwide Airport (PPT) in Papeete, Tahiti starting in March.
Vacationers may also anticipate to see Hawaiian’s planes flying much more often between HNL and the U.S. West Coast: The service will add a fifth every day flight to Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) through the peak vacation rush. And, it would stack on a fourth every day wintertime flight from Honolulu to Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA), the house base of its new sister airline, Alaska Airways.
Publish-merger shakeup
The additional SEA and LAX flights are half of a bigger community shakeup at Hawaiian after being acquired final 12 months by Alaska Air Group — together with an effort to attach extra Hawaiian flights with Alaska’s West Coast hubs.
This winter (between October and March) Hawaiian’s complete departures on the HNL-SEA route had already been set to rise some 226% versus a 12 months in the past, in accordance with information from aviation analytics agency Cirium.
Different adjustments are within the works, too.
Alaska has mentioned Hawaiian’s older Airbus A330s — which shall be its primary long-haul plane, going ahead — will get cabin facelifts within the coming years, together with a brand new business-class and premium economic system product.
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