Fly From Orange County (And More): Continental Picks Up From Aloha

orange county

Those of us in Hawaii (and many Southern California residents) were sad to see Aloha’s demise and the discontinuation of Hawaii service from John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

I’ve been predicting that Alaska would be the natural to jump into these routes as they have been slowly working their way down the Gold Coast (with Oakland starting in November).

Continental brings a swift halt to Alaska Airlines’ Hawaii expansion today, with these preemptive moves.

It’s no coincidence that all new flights announced will use 737 aircraft, as with Aloha and Alaska. These rather uncomfortable, single isle, 160-seat planes give Continental more flexibility for smaller, less dense markets (like Orange County).

Announcing Continental’s New Orange County (SNA) Service to Honolulu.

Beginning in March, Continental will initially operate four days a week, departing Orange County at 5:20 p.m. and arriving in Honolulu at 8:05 p.m. The return flight departs Honolulu at 11:10 p.m. and arrives at Orange County at 7:45 a.m.

Continental has even more Hawaii destinations planned.

In addition to the new Orange County service, Continental will add other Hawaii flights, as it quickly tries to assert its dominance in the mainland to Hawaii (and beyond) market.

LAX-OGG (Maui) service starts in March. The flight will depart at 5:05 p.m. and arrive at 7:45 p.m. Return flight leaves at 9:15 p.m. and arrives LAX at 5:45 a.m.
Additional LAX-HNL flights starts in March. Continental is adding a second daily flight, this one departing at 1:55 p.m. and arriving at 4:40 p.m. The return will depart at 1:50 p.m. and arrive at 10:25 p.m.
New Honolulu to Fiji service (previously announced) starts December 18. This twice-weekly flight will operate on Mondays and Fridays departing at 6:55 p.m. and arriving at 11:40 p.m. the following day. Return flights will be on Tuesdays and Saturdays departing at 8:50 a.m. and arriving at 5:25 p.m. the previous day.

What’s next and what does it mean?

Daily service from Orange County will likely soon follow. Also watch for additional routes by Continental (or Alaska) from Orange County and perhaps San Diego to Hawaii’s neighbor islands.

Expect to find increased competition resulting in better deals to Hawaii from all of Southern California!

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Comments

Cindy Barthi says

October 7, 2009 at 9:47 am

Sad? about Aloha??? That doesn’t begin to describe the devastation Orange County residents felt regarding the demise of Aloha….we were profoundly wounded and really thought HI Governor Lingle should have stepped in for a rescue. (Many states have done this for carriers in exchange for other employment perks kept within the home state)

We were once again, held hostage by the nightmare, otherwise known as, LAX. Nevermind our family’s loss of approximately 190,000 frequent flier miles. We were so relieved to have reliable, courteous air transportation in our own backyard, we couldn’t get to Maui fast or frequently enough. To have it taken away as an option was an enormous blow!

I could cry tears of joy at this news about Continental…