Hawaiian Dreamliner Launches From Seattle As Jobs Disappear In Hawaii

It was supposed to be Hawaii’s flagship plane, and it was. However, the long-awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliner is now launching service not from Honolulu, as we just mentioned, but from Seattle, connecting to Tokyo and other destinations in the Asia-Pacific region next.

Meanwhile, more than 250 Hawaiian Airlines employees are being laid off this fall, in what the company describes as a reshaping related to the purchase of Hawaiian.

Why Dreamliner Flights Now Launch From Seattle, Not Hawaii.

Hawaiian Airlines has confirmed that its first scheduled Dreamliner service will begin on September 12, 2025, with nonstop flights from Seattle to Incheon, South Korea. A second Dreamliner route, from Seattle to Tokyo Narita, will follow on December 28, 2025, replacing the A330 currently operating that route. Both long-haul services launch from Seattle, bypassing Hawaii entirely.

Starting January 1, 2026, Hawaiian will operate its Dreamliner daily on flight HA823 from Seattle to Tokyo, with the return flight, HA824. According to current schedule data, the Dreamliner will operate most flights through April 20, with a handful of dates still using the A330-200.

These are not temporary assignments. Hawaiian’s Boeing 787s are currently based in Honolulu, but the airline plans to establish a full Dreamliner base in Seattle starting in March 2026. Until then, all 787 flying will rotate through Honolulu but depart and return through Seattle for scheduled long-haul operations.

The strategy is clear. Alaska Airlines, now the parent company of Hawaiian, is positioning Seattle as the primary gateway for growth in the Asia-Pacific region. The Dreamliner rollout reinforces that shift. Even Hawaiian’s increased winter service between Honolulu and Seattle will include 787 flights—one of four daily widebody options during the peak holiday season. But these operate more as feeder flights than a sign that Hawaii is the hub of Dreamliner activity.

In some ways, this was inevitable. Hawaiian had lost more than two billion dollars in recent years, and there were no signs it could climb out on its own. It was a respected century-old airline but a drifting one, a widebody-heavy carrier in the middle of the Pacific without the network to support that kind of scale. When Alaska stepped in, it was as much a rescue as a purchase. And that can’t be ignored.

For visitors flying to and from Hawaii, that means the Dreamliner remains mostly out of reach. Honolulu is still the technical base, but not the center of scheduled operations. And with Alaska controlling network decisions, the islands may see fewer of these premium aircraft than initially promised.

Hawaiian’s Sydney route is expanding, but still no Dreamliner.

During the peak holiday travel season from December 18, 2025, through January 31, 2026, Hawaiian will boost its Honolulu–Sydney service from five flights a week to daily. The aircraft remains the legacy A330, which does not have international standards in relation to either business or the lack of true premium economy.

That’s despite Sydney being one of Hawaiian’s core long-haul markets. The decision to keep the new Dreamliner off the Hawaii–Australia route, while launching it instead from Seattle to Asia, sends a clear message about where the company sees growth and long-term opportunity.

Hawaiian’s official winter schedule also adds more flights from Honolulu to Los Angeles and Seattle using widebody aircraft, but those too remain on the A330 for now. Only Seattle–Tokyo and Seattle–Seoul are slated for Dreamliner service thus far, and neither touches Hawaii. Europe, both Rome and likely Barcelona, are the next targets for the planes.

Layoffs hit as Seattle gains flights.

Just as the Dreamliner launches from Seattle, Hawaiian Airlines has confirmed that approximately 250 of its employees will be laid off this fall. The company attributed the layoffs to the merger with Alaska Airlines, noting that some positions are now redundant or shifting toward Alaska’s centralized operations in Seattle.

These layoffs are scheduled to take effect even as Hawaiian’s aircraft and pilot base continue to support new Alaska-branded international routes.

In its latest earnings report, Alaska acknowledged that absorbing Hawaiian has brought short-term cost pressures but also early financial gains. While more than 250 non-union employees, mainly from Hawaiian’s Honolulu headquarters, are being laid off, the parent company is already reporting an 8.8 percent rise in unit revenue from Hawaiian operations and an 11-point improvement in margin performance.

The restructuring, though painful, is part of Alaska’s Accelerate plan to generate $1 billion in profit growth by 2027. That strategy leans heavily on network consolidation, premium revenue, and long-haul expansion from Seattle rather than Honolulu. Those moves are now playing out in real time.

For long-time staff in Hawaii, the optics are difficult. Hawaiian remains the largest private employer in the state, and planes that once symbolized the future of Hawaii travel are now flying other places while the workforce back home shrinks.

The company has not issued detailed public statements beyond acknowledging the cuts. For many travelers, the concern is not just about routes but about what kind of airline Hawaiian is becoming.

Visitors may not notice, but the airline is changing fast.

If you’re flying to or from Hawaii this winter, chances are your aircraft will still be an A321 narrow-body or a legacy A330 widebody. Most of the Dreamliner headlines, at least for now, will play out thousands of miles from the islands. As we pointed out, Los Angeles was briefly part of the 787 schedule, but that will end on October 26, 2025, when the final Dreamliner flight between LAX and Honolulu is retired in favor of A330 and A321neo service.

But the bigger shift remains harder to ignore. Routes are being restructured as Alaska takes control over scheduling and network planning. Hawaiian executives who once ran the show are now gone. Long-time Alaska leaders, some now stationed in Honolulu, have taken their place.

More long-haul flying is being reassigned to depart from Seattle instead of Honolulu. Even the branding is under review, with questions still swirling over how long the Hawaiian name will remain visible on aircraft and websites—especially when Hawaii isn’t part of the route.

One reader recently said, “This isn’t the airline we’ve flown for years. It feels like something else now.”

Why this isn’t just a fleet update.

Many airlines adjust their aircraft resources in response to seasonal demand. But what’s happening here is deeper. Hawaiian Airlines once bet big on longer-haul service connecting Hawaii to Asia, Australia, and the U.S. mainland. That model depended on having premium aircraft based in Honolulu.

The merger with Alaska has flipped that logic. Now, Honolulu is becoming more of a spoke than a hub, while Seattle emerges as the launch point for major international flights. Hawaii still matters, but it’s no longer the center of the map for Hawaiian Airlines.

And that change doesn’t just affect routes. It touches everything from maintenance and staffing to how elite benefits work, where miles are earned, and what loyalty means for travelers who’ve flown Hawaiian for decades.

What’s next for Hawaii-based Dreamliner service?

The question remains: will Hawaiian ever redeploy the Dreamliner on core Hawaii routes? It’s possible. The aircraft are capable of flying to New York, Japan, and even London from Honolulu. But for now, the airline has moved to debut its newest, most advanced jet on routes that skip Hawaii entirely and operate from its new international base in Seattle.

That’s a choice with implications far beyond aircraft scheduling. It sends a message about where growth is focused, where headquarters influence lies, and which travelers the airline is trying hardest to serve.

Until that equation shifts, at least some of the Dreamliners may remain a symbol of Hawaii, but one that spends more time in Seattle than in the islands.

Have you flown Hawaiian recently? Did it feel like the airline you remember?