What will happen at Hawaiian Airlines in the next year as it awaits acquisition. Beyond the data points to the heart of the matter.
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65 thoughts on “Could Hawaiian Airlines Survive Without Alaska Deal? A World Of Emotion And Change.”
Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Could Hawaiian Airlines Survive Without Alaska Deal? A World Of Emotion And Change.
Hawaiian Airlines is our favorite airline, and we fly it annually, sometimes more than once a year from SFO to the islands. We really hope for the best in the merger for employees, customers like we are and everyone for the long term. Please, all that are involved, do what is best for the company in the long term. Thank you.
And British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia are all owned by IAG. KLM is owned by Air France. There’s a lot of brand equity in Hawaiian Airlines. Alaska is, I’m sure, savvy to that and will keep the brand. Given HA’s recent woes related to infrastructure, and Alaska’s strengths there, one might postulate that Alaska’s acquisition is JIT. Better it’s now while the HA brand is still strong than by a corporate raider (think TWA) who would dismember it.
Well said David. Hawaiian’s recent issues are all going to be behind them by combining AK’s strengths with what has made Hawaiian such a great airline. Covid, runway 8L closure, NEO teething problems, Japans slow recovery from Covid and call center/website issues left them with 900 million debt. All that gets put in the rear view mirror and the AK/HA version of Hawaiian returns to the airline it was pre Covid…back then, the stock hit $60!
So I have BOTH Hawaiian Miles and Alaskan Miles, now what?
In addition, can we now use Alaska Lounges at LAX? Further, Terminal location Changes?
There are some people trying to float the idea that this merger may have a problem with the DOJ with anti trust issues, that’s a weak perspective. They quote Spirit/JetBlue…apples and oranges. No correlation as it doesn’t reduce competition, it enhances it…that said if AK/HA serves MKK and LNY (as has been reported) it’s a slam dunk, the merger cannot be turned down as doing so would reduce essential air service to two communities in dire need of better service. More and more this AK/HA merger is showing new signs of brilliance for both airlines.
Hi John.
Your perspective is always interesting. We asked a Southwest pilot about his take on the acquisition today and he too said it’s a good move. His only regret was that it wasn’t Southwest who had gotten Hawaiian.
Aloha.
Now that would have have had DOJ/anti trust issues (eliminating inter island competition)! Not to mention labor problems. Frontier employees fought off a SWA attempt at merging because the Frontier employees wanted no part of SWA’s history of the arrogance SWA demonstrated when they merged with AirTran. They were the polar opposite of how AK is handling this. SWA likely would have been “Yee Haw, we won!” and simply absorbed what they wanted into SWA and discarded the rest and Hawaii would be left with an inter island operation run from Texas, if approved. The labor problems would have been insurmountable. One more example of how uniquely brilliant AK approached this deal.
I’m quite fond of Hawaiian Airlines. When I fly to Hawaii (usually Oakland-Lihue), I don’t even bother to shop around. I belong to their mileage plan, and I finally got a Hawaiian Airlines credit card. I love the culture of the staff, on both the mainland side and island side, and the culture aboard the planes. They seem to do their best to make flying fun again (yes, it used to be fun). However, I also belong to Alaska’s mileage plan and have flown them recently when I needed to go to Mexico. I have no complaints about Alaska Airlines, but their culture is not as distinctly flavored as HA’s.
The interest payments on $900m in debt made it tough and unlikely for Hawaiian to be profitable. COVID and the Asian market lockdown coupled with the lockdown protocol by the state of Hawaii crushed Hawaiian airlines (And many businesses in the state). Just to cover the interest payments on the debt had to be enormous.
For me, Hawaiian was the airline we took to Hawaii most often. For many who took pride in an airline that preceded Hawaii joining the union this loss likely hurts. And, wishful thinking or not, HAL will likely disappear entirely in several years. Alaska might, as well.
For me, the bigger losses were specific aircraft. First, it broke my heart when the 747 and soon, the 757 were gone. Many airlines have fallen (merged) in my lifetime, but I just hope Alaska keeps the non-stop from Ontario. If not, I will fly as many widebodies as possible from, probably San Diego.
Rod: We always take the Airbus from SAN to HNL to OGG. That is really a comfortable ride. I would be very sad if they discontinued that.
Following the problems of HA here on BOH it seemed that HA was floundering in a sea of post COVID misfortunes and needed help. It seems this merger will make both airlines stronger and able to forge ahead in the Pacific rim markets which is the future. Now if the state of Hawaii gets it act together at HNL we’ll be set into this century for future travelers. Stay tuned
We go to Kauai frequently and over the last 20 years we have traveled to the Islands around 40 times. We have always loved the on board experience with Hawaiian. The people are wonderful. However, we have had problems with flight changes and our experiences with the reservation system since the upgrade began have been horrendous. Once you get people on the phone they do all they can to show the Aloha spirit but its hard to do when you spend multiple hours while they try to complete a transaction. We have been avoiding booking with Hawaiian when we can since then. Maybe after the merger we will go back and see if the system is better and the Aloha has been retained.
I don’t believe Ingram! Hawaiian has been losing millions ever since they emerged from COVID and since then, all they have been doing was spending more money. They gave their pilots a huge pay raise and bought two more 787s.
All needed to keep pilots (and thus keep flying its airplanes- the market dictates that, it is hard to get pilots to come to such an expensive state and compete against other airlines for pay, especially relative to the cost of living, Hawaiian pilots are still paid less than other legacy airlines, Alaska 737 pilots are paid a little more than HA 321 pilots) and keep the company competitive, those were long term decisions for the health of the company (including the 787 which Boeing gave them a deal to sway them from the A350) as was the expansion and diversification into Cargo with the Amazon deal as cargo flying is more stable than passenger and that was a big lesson from COVID.
JC, you’ve made some spot on posts here..I’ll add to to this one. Going forward AK/HA will be able to offer as a career choice for perspective pilots TransPac and likely Europe Widebody (787) flying, Inter island and Intra Alaska flying, Domestic 737 and an Amazon Widebody freight operation that has the potential to grow to to 60 A330 freighters and a quick upgrade to Captain. AK/HA will likely be the best option for career opportunities for prospective pilots compared to DAL/AA/UAL ….they have hired extensively and can no longer offer a quick upgrade. There are a lot of hidden gems in this deal.
Absolutely Right! Spend, spend, spend and hope for the best. Lose money and spend more money never works!