Airlines flights to Hawaii have been on the increase. Capacity was expected to grow 7% this year compared with last year, to nearly 11 million Hawaii vacation seats. New mainland flights were added by Alaska, Allegiant and Hawaiian. However, as competition and lack of demand drove prices to unacceptably low levels, some domestic flights have been cut. At the same time, carriers are looking for strategic opportunities to increase Hawaii air service, and in fact today and yesterday brought new service announcements.
Alaska has 20% of their global business flying to and from Hawaii and has introduced new routes from up and down the Pacific Coast to all islands. A lack of increased demand paired with stiff competition from Hawaiian however, has produced cheap Hawaii airfare that has at times dropped under $150 each way, well below the fuel cost alone.
Alaska Hawaii flights were recently pared back. Flights between highly competitive Oakland and San Jose and both Kauai and the Big Island have been cut.
The company continues to look for sweet spots in the Hawaii package deals market. That has not been completely successful thus far and there is too much availability at prices below their cost of providing the air service.
Allegiant flights to Hawaii from Monterey were scrubbed entirely, before the service even started, due to lack of demand. Soon thereafter Hawaii flights from Santa Maria to Honolulu were put on hold until mid-March.
Inadequate demand for Allegiant Hawaii flights from Eugene, Fresno, Phoenix and Santa Maria could portend the possibility of future flight reductions, seasonal service or route changes.
Hawaii’s long standing carrier has been expanding rapidly with many new international routes in the Asia/Pacific region, including today’s announcement of Sendai Japan service. On their mainland to Hawaii routes however, growth has been more elusive. The company faces competition on virtually all west coast runs from legacy airlines in some locations, and more importantly from Alaska in many others. In addition, their New York City to Honolulu service has not yet proven successful, given strong, continuous competition from United and others, and the lack of a defined east coast to Hawaii market. These issues have resulted in unacceptably low airfares across a number of mainland to Hawaii air routes, which means there’s a likelihood of upcoming schedule changes.
Hawaiian is looking for domestic expansion opportunities. Yesterday they announced additional lift between Portland and Honolulu. That will be accomplished by moving from 767 to Airbus A330 aircraft, resulting in an increased annual seat capacity of 11,000.
Hawaiian also announced expanding their service between Oakland and Honolulu during the summer months to daily instead of four times per week. Additional flights will run from June 15 through October 3.
Both of the above routes are also served by Alaska Airlines. This may provide opportunities for more Hawaii deals from both Oakland and Portland. We’ll keep you posted if that occurs.
USAir/American Air Merger
It is hard to know what this next mega airline merger will mean for Hawaii air travel. American has had only minor focus on Hawaii for years and USAir’s interest may also be waning. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for something good to come out of it for Hawaii.
View all recent Hawaii Deals.
I travel frequently from NYC to HI, and have been really pleased with HA’s service from JFK. The problem is that, although the service is certainly better than United’s, the prices have been no bargain, particularly during peak seasons. When I went home to HI in December, I actually was able to get a “reasonable” Xmas season fare on United ($1100-as you know from NYC this is quite good for that time a year–especially as I don’t have to pay for a place to stay); whereas Hawaiian was asking $2300+ per person. Unfortunately, there was no way with a family of 3 that I could go home at that price on HA. This has also happened at other times, leaving me to wonder whether this route will ever be really viable if they cannot offer a competitive (better) price. I love HA and am keeping my fingers crossed, for it would be awful if they leave the NYC market. With tourists returning to HI, if they cannot succeed in this market climate, they may never will. Aloha and mahalo nui loa for your great HI website. A hui hou, Rob
Hi Robert,
If the prices were a little higher overall, things would be better. There have been many days when I could fly to New York for about the same price as flying inter-island.
Thanks and aloha.
Do you think HA would end its service to JFK this year?
Hi Keith,
No I don’t think so largely because that route is important to their strategy which includes new longer distance markets. But some reduction in service is possible unless the problems cited are resolved.
Aloha.