Every airline with flights to Hawaii has made some downward adjustments to island flying in 2024. Yesterday, American joined that group.
The list of Hawaii airline flight cuts has been coming since last fall as Alaska, American, Delta, Hawaiian, Southwest, and United all positioned themselves against waning demand for Hawaii travel, lack of new aircraft, and the need for airlines to make flying profitable. More changes are ahead, that’s clear.
American has reduced flights and eliminated some widebody from its Dallas and Phoenix hubs.
The Kona nonstop flight is removed from their schedule except from late October until March. Flights between Phoenix and both Honolulu and Maui are being downguaged. Except for a few days, those will now be on Airbus A321 narrow-body planes, not Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Last month, we reported that Southwest Airlines had also trimmed its Hawaii Routes By Over 50%. That was even before the airline realized the severity of headwinds it was facing in terms of aircraft deliveries and more. Overall, Southwest cut or reduced service on sixteen Hawaii routes and kept just fifteen full-time routes. Los Angeles to Maui was among those axed entirely.
Delta has also cut and “seasonalized” routes while simultaneously adding others. In a competitive attack against Alaska and Hawaiian, Delta recently announced that it would compete on Hawaiian’s longest route from Boston to Honolulu. That will be, however, only during the most profitable months, between November and April.
At the same time, they are hitting back against competitor Alaska Airlines, with more flights from Alaska hubs in Seattle and Salt Lake City. Delta is also restoring its previous flights between Atlanta and Maui, but only on a seasonal (November through March) basis. They also announced boosts to Honolulu frequencies from Seattle and Salt Lake City on a seasonal winter basis. Delta’s nonstop from Minneapolis to Maui has been cut entirely.
Hawaiian and United have faced cut-backs on Hawaii flights, as we have also previously reported.
Are you concerned about the airlines reducing some Hawaii flights for the remainder of 2024?
The way I read the article is that American still had a seasonal (late Oct-Mar) widebody flight DFW to KOA. That is no longer the case – the seasonal is not there anymore either. Sadly, I received confirmation of that today in a rescheduled flight email for the flight home from Hawaii. My true lie-flat first class (with miles of course) on a widebody through DFW got changed to business through PHX.