Alaska Airlines continues to expand its Hawaii network with a significant new route connecting Honolulu (HNL) and California. This latest addition reflects Alaska’s fast-growing influence on Hawaii travel. It raises intriguing questions about the competitive dynamics of leveraging Hawaiian Airlines, which already flies this route, with other potential players in the wings.
Alaska Airlines expands west coast-Hawaii options.
Starting June 12, 2025, Alaska Airlines will begin operating daily flights between Honolulu and Ontario (ONT), California. Hawaiian Airlines already serves this route, which uses its A321neo narrow-body. Before this announcement, Hawaiian was the only carrier that connected the Inland Empire to the islands.
Alaska’s move doesn’t clarify what could happen next, including Hawaiian possibly ending its flights, shifting to seasonal service, or both carriers maintaining dual operations. We’re sure to learn more about that soon. Upon checking, we see that both airlines have Ontario on their schedule through November 30.
One fascinating aspect is that we previously understood Alaska had planned to leverage the Hawaiian brand for all flights touching the islands. It isn’t clear if that will continue to be the case.
Aviation observer Ishrion Aviation first reported this new route. It highlights Alaska’s recognition of the growing potential of Southern California’s smaller airports. Ontario International Airport and the entire Inland Empire may become increasingly vital hubs for Hawaii travelers seeking to avoid the off-putting congestion of LAX. With its convenient location and super easy access, ONT and neighboring San Bernardino offer a fascinating advantage for Hawaii travelers in the region. BOH editors travel frequently between Hawaii and the Island Empire, which has also piqued our interest.
Strategic implications for Southern California and Hawaii.
This new route is a smart move for Alaska Airlines as it seeks to strengthen its hold on Hawaii-bound travelers from secondary airports in Southern California. ONT’s proximity to San Bernardino (SBD)—where Breeze Airways has hinted at potential Hawaii flights—adds another layer of intrigue.
Could Alaska’s expansion be a preemptive strategy to solidify its presence and counter any future competition from Breeze, which has yet to confirm Hawaii routes and must first obtain ETOPS certification? It also hints at Breeze perhaps being more of a Hawaii aspirant than we even realized.
In December, Alaska pointed to Ontario as part of its Hawaiian-Alaska integration plans, stating that ONT would likely be included in the next group of airports to share facilities between the two airlines.
You’ll recall that Hawaiian previously served Ontario using widebody aircraft before it brought the A321 to the route. BOH editors confirm having traveled on HNL-ONT when it was still a widebody flight and enjoyed ONT’s convenience. Alaska’s move to re-focus on this market with more narrow-body service aligns with the broader trend of airlines leveraging smaller, less congested airports to appeal to Hawaii leisure travelers seeking convenience.
This route offers an additional, traveler-friendly alternative to reach the islands for Hawaii visitors from the Inland Empire and surrounding areas. Alaska is positioning ONT as a key gateway for Hawaii-bound travelers while expanding its dominance in Southern California.
Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines before full integration.
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines maintain a partnership with Alaska as owner as they work toward full integration under one operating certificate later this year. This relationship is increasingly being leveraged as Alaska strategically expands its West Coast network.
The addition of the HNL-ONT route showcases Alaska’s abilities in this area, integrating its Boeing 737 MAX and Hawaiian’s Airbus A321neo fleets while utilizing Hawaiian’s widebody aircraft for strategic long-haul reach.
This evolving dynamic is reshaping Hawaii travel, with Alaska drawing on both companies’ capabilities and assets to strengthen its dominance in the market. As the integration progresses, travelers can look forward to more streamlined operations and expanded route possibilities under Alaska’s leadership.
What Hawaii travelers can expect.
Alaska’s entry into the HNL-ONT market brings both opportunities and questions. The increased competition still lies ahead and may lead to lower fares, making Hawaii more accessible to residents of Southern California. However, the sustainability of the two airlines operating daily flights on this route remains uncertain and will be revealed over time.
A new era of Hawaii travel.
Alaska Airlines’ addition of the Ontario to Honolulu route highlights its commitment to reshaping Hawaii travel. By leveraging the two fleets, Alaska is expanding its network and redefining competition in the Hawaii travel market. For travelers, these changes bring increased choices and the possibility of better pricing while raising questions about how the industry will adapt.
As Alaska continues to expand its dominance, it’s clear that Hawaii travel is entering an entirely new era where convenience, competition, and strategy play pivotal roles.
We welcome your input and insights.
Photo Credit © Beat of Hawaii.
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Does this really just replace the Long Beach service that is being discoontinued?
Ontatio probably has capacity to absorb this – staff and landing ights that allow the flight to be shifted here? Running 1 or 2 flights from Long Beach would not be the best use of resources.
The population of Japan peaked out about 15 years ago. The country is now the fastest aging country on the planet.
These tourists are not coming back. While Hawaii has spent the last 5 years saying how awful tourists are and supporting vagrants’ rights to camp anywhere, other countries that are closer to Japan, don’t turn their nose up at tourists, have continued to develop their tourist industries and offer better exchange rates for the yen.
It’s just seems Alaska’s strategy is haphazard. It’s not clear what they are positioning Hawaiian airlines for. The Pacific routes from Seattle seems poorly though out since they can’t compete with the Asian carriers. It just seems the don’t know how the position Hawaiian . Recall how poorly they manage the once well regarded brand Virgin America.. they have not invested in San Francisco as they said they would. The choice of Seattle as a hub is not at all convenient.
One just has to look at the prices….prices for the seats and mileage plans to see what Alaskan is doing. Sit in back or pay $31 -$91 for aisle seats, window seats or ext rows. $359 on Hawaiian or $170-220 on Alaskan. Plus to use miles it is 26.5k miles on Hawaiian and 9k or 17.5k or 20k on Alaskan.
So far, when Alaskan changes your flight from Alaskan to a Hawaiian flight, you get screwed! You lose your seat assignment, plus you have to pay to sit next to each other, plus cost a lot more to get an exit row. We had an exit row sitting across the aisle from each other now we don’t!
As with my previous comments about Southwest Airlines, I question airline strategy to pound and saturate the California and Southwest markets. In all but the summer months Hawaii offers a sharp contrast of tropical weather to most of the mainland. Hawaii is a haven for snowbirders like me. Most of the California markets and Arizona are fair, warm weather areas and the appeal to fly to Hawaii is reduced. I think there is a goldmine for expanded nonstop service to cold weather markets such as Denver where I originate.
Thanks for staying on this. The integration between Alaska and Hawaiian is one of the most interesting airline stories right now. Can’t wait to see how this evolves.
I’m really curious how this ties into Alaska’s bigger plans for the West Coast to Hawaii. Are they eyeing more secondary airports for Hawaii routes or where is this headed?
I’m hoping Alaska brings back Bellingham to Maui.
Well, so much for “Competitive Air Fares” on ONT to HNL flights. Before the merger, it was Alaska vs Hawaiian for customers. Now it’s “same company” with higher fares and NO competition. Another pairing with No competition with this merger is PDX to HNL. Again, higher fares.
Alaska was not flying ONT to HNL, so how has it changed other than more capacity?
Thank you, BOH, for your updates in the AS/HA integration. While new routes are being added to other markets, I sense a de-focus on the SFO/HNL route which I fly monthly.
I was ticketed on AS877, it’s daily late morning nonstop SFO/HNL flight, for April 2025. It appears that flight has been suspended and AS transferred me to HA11, HA’s daily early morning flight. Not a big deal but in checking other flight options, AS877 and its corresponding return flight AS876, have altogether disappeared. I could not find any direct flights operated by AS on the SFO/HNL route.
SFO is left with only UA, HA, and SW. It’s what I feared the AS/HA integration will result in less choices.
I’ve flown ONT-HNL on Hawaiian before, and it was great to avoid the LA traffic. Alaska jumping in should make this even better for us!
Do you think Hawaiian will keep flying on this route, or is it just a matter of time before they step back entirely? Something seems odd.
Exciting news for us in the Inland Empire! Ontario is such a convenient option compared to LAX. Can’t wait next to see how this affects fares.
I always fly Hawaiian out of Ontario. I was getting ready to book this summer’s trip using my Hawaiian miles but hearing that Alaska is jumping into the picture makes me wonder if my miles will be merged into Alaska or if Hawaiian will keep their flights. Anyone have thoughts on this?
Great for Ontario, but get smart Alaska, start utilizing SNA, I am sure you could fill at least one flight a day to HNL or OGG , and yes we would pay more for those flights….
I am also wondering why no airline since Aloha flew to Hawaii from Sna.
Everyone talks about fares going up but just flew on my lowest mileage redemption ever from San to Maui on Hawaiian for only 10k miles.
SNA runway isn’t long enough to offer the service with that plane on a 737-7 can do it. A321 and 737-8 are not capable of doing this.