Ahead of the busy holiday season this November and December, Hawaiian Airlines is growing its flight schedules to California and Seattle. Betting that customers will want to visit the islands for a getaway, the airline will focus its extra flying around the peak travel days. As the recovery continues, Hawaii is now welcoming travelers again, and leisure travelers remain an important part of the recovery.
Hawaiian grows West Coast schedules
From Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye Airport (HNL), Hawaiian Airlines will fly two daily flights to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) up from a single daily flight. The second daily flight to Seattle will run from November 18th to November 20th, November 26th to November 28th, and December 16th to January 4th. The return flights will start one day later due to the inbound being a red-eye.
HA28 will depart HNL for SEA at 21:45. The flight will land the following day in SEA at 05:30. The return flight will depart SEA at 08:00 and arrive in HNL at 12:15.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will get a second daily flight to Kahului Airport (OGG) – the primary airport for flying to Maui. The second daily flight to LAX will run from November 18th to November 20th, November 26th to November 28th, and December 16th to January 4th. The return flights will start one day later due to the inbound being a red-eye.
HA56 will depart OGG at 22:00 and arrive the next morning in LAX at 05:00. The return flight will leave LAX at 12:05 and land in OGG at 15:45 on the same day.
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will get increased flying from December 18th through January 9th. During the week, from Mondays through Thursdays, Hawaiian will run one daily flight between HNL and SFO. However, the airline will run two flights between Honolulu and San Francisco on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Return flights to Honolulu from SFO will run on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.
HA54 will depart HNL at 13:15 and land in SFO at 20:30 on the same day. The return flight will leave at 08:00 from SFO and land in HNL at 11:45. Second daily flights from SFO to HNL will start on December 19th and run through January 10th.
The aircraft
The second daily flight between Honolulu and Seattle will see the airline operate its flagship widebody aircraft. The airline will utilize its Airbus A330 aircraft featuring room for 278 passengers. This includes 18 lie-flat first class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. Following this are 68 extra-legroom economy seats and 192 standard economy seats. All passengers will have access to on-demand seatback entertainment.
Meanwhile, the additional flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco will run onboard Airbus A321neo aircraft. These planes feature 16 recliner-style first class seats, 44 extra-legroom economy seats, and 129 standard economy seats. These planes do not feature on-demand seatback entertainment.
Leisure remains key
Brent Overbeek, senior vice president of network planning and revenue management at Hawaiian Airlines, stated the following on the expanded service:
“We are looking forward to welcoming our guests with our warm hospitality as they spend this holiday season safely enjoying the islands or visiting with friends and loved ones on the mainland.”
The airline is adding the flights in anticipation of strong holiday demand. Some of the added flights will run only three weeks from Hawaiian announcing the new flights, which may seem like a short period of time.
However, during the crisis, the traditional booking curve has shortened. Airlines have seen more close-in bookings as customers monitor the public health situation before traveling. As a result, Hawaiian is quite confident it will be able to tap into that last-minute demand for flights to the islands.
After Hawaii faced a spike in cases, prominent officials from the state began to ask tourists to stay away. This led to a deceleration in bookings and some cancelations. However, with Hawaii now coming off that surge and vaccinations continuing, the state is now ready to welcome travelers again, leading passengers to put their once canceled or deferred trips to the islands back on the books.
Hawaiian Airlines is adding capacity in these markets as international travel remains restricted. While there have been signs of more reopenings in Asia and the South Pacific, Hawaiian is taking a cautious approach with its capacity and instead deploying its aircraft in the markets where it believes the revenue potential will justify the added daily frequencies.
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