Hawaiian Airlines’ newest generation of widebody jets—the Dreamliners—is vanishing from many Hawaii routes, and even some of Hawaiian’s pilots have told us the aircraft’s future is moving to Seattle.
These aren’t just aircraft swaps. They signal a more profound shift in how the airline views itself, and how much of that identity remains rooted in Hawaii. For many travelers and airline insiders, it feels as though the island airline is quietly becoming a mainland operation, with Hawaii more of a new destination than its former home.
Pilots now expect long-haul flying to shift north.
One pilot told us he predicted the loss of most, if not all, Hawaii flying from any base other than Seattle. That seems extreme. Another said the 787s (Dreamliners) are going to Seattle, while the A330s stay in Hawaii for now, but not forever.
Others described Hawaii-based routes to us as filler, a sharp departure from how those flights were once viewed as key to Hawaiian’s operation. With the opening of a new large 787 Dreamliner base in Seattle soon, the message seems clear. Long-haul strategy is now being centralized far from Honolulu.
Still, Hawaiian relies heavily on its 34 A330 aircraft, which far outnumber the 18 A321s and remain essential for many transpacific domestic and international routes. Even if strategic planning is shifting north, the widebody A330 fleet isn’t going anywhere just yet.
The LAX–HNL final domestic Dreamliner flight is next to vanish.
LAX to Honolulu was one of the last routes where travelers could reliably count on a Hawaiian widebody. That ends after October 26. One longtime reader, Rich, who has posted over 400 comments on Beat of Hawaii, discovered it firsthand while trying to book holiday flights.
“Just tried to book an LAX–HNL roundtrip for the holidays and no B787 and no A330, all minibuses. So it’s goodbye Hawaiian. Bit of a quandary as Delta’s fleet to HNL are so old the IFE instructions are in Latin.”
He is not entirely wrong. In July, Hawaiian flies two 787s and a mix of A330 widebody and A321 narrowbody daily between LAX and Honolulu. In September, it is down to a narrowed mix. After October 26, no Dreamliners will remain in service on the route through the end of the schedule in June 2026. Hawaiian shifts to as many as four daily flights, operated by a mix of widebody A330 and narrow-body A321neo aircraft.
Even during the peak holiday rush, when five daily flights are scheduled, two of them are on A321s and the rest are on A330.
Hawaiian’s route map: a shift away from Hawaii.
The LAX downgrade is not an isolated event. Here is what we are seeing across key routes:
- SFO–HNL: A330 and A321 mix
- PHX–HNL: Mostly A330
- SLC–HNL: A321 only
- SEA–HNL: Sometimes sees up to three daily 787s, though that count appears to decline once the new Seattle 787 crew base opens in early 2026
- JFK–HNL: 787 ends September 11, replaced by A330
- SYD–HNL: A330 throughout schedule
- TYO–HNL: A330 throughout schedule
- AKL–HNL: A330 only, ends seasonally in April
Some of these routes, like Tokyo and Sydney, would seemingly support the Dreamliner’s far more premium product. Yet they remain on older A330s. Meanwhile, the 787s are now focused on Seattle-based flying, including international routes to Asia and next Europe, with SEA–HNL the only mainland route set to continue using the aircraft.
West Coast flights lose Hawaiian’s signature comfort.
Not every downgrade is long-haul. Thomas recently commented on what it’s like now flying out of San Jose.
“I wish Hawaiian Airlines would stop shortchanging West Coast flights. The A321neo planes are the most uncomfortable in the sky. First Class is cramped. The lavatories are way too small. Impossible for a 6-foot person to even try and use them. It was so nice in the days when 767 planes flew these routes.”
That discomfort is amplified by the growing sense that Hawaiian’s fleet strategy now prioritizes convenience and cost over comfort and connection. What was once a high-touch, destination-oriented airline is starting to resemble an largely interchangeable, primarily narrow-body operation.
Travelers say it feels less like Hawaii now.
For many travelers, the difference isn’t just physical. It’s emotional.
Rich told us he used to fly Hawaiian because it felt like home before he even landed. Now, he says, it feels like Alaska with a hula skirt.
Another traveler booked Hawaiian expecting widebody comfort, only to be met with a narrow-body surprise. The comment? “Might as well have flown Southwest.”
Katie, reflecting on her own experience with Southwest, offered a pointed comparison. “Southwest flights to Maui were the best, no frills, just easy. Hawaiian is like being packed in a can, with indifferent flight attendants and fading service. Hopefully they’ll realize what they once had and what they could have absolutely owned. Sad.”
Each of these travelers mentioned sensing the same thing. Something important is slipping away.
What comes next for Hawaiian?
For now, the A330 remains in service on international routes and many West Coast flights as shown above. The Dreamliners, on the other hand, are fast vanishing—except for the route between Honolulu and Seattle.
Even that looks increasingly temporary. Meanwhile, competing carriers on routes like Tokyo and Sydney offer newer cabins, more amenities, and better in-flight entertainment. Hawaiian is falling behind just as Alaska gains access to a fleet of larger, more modern aircraft.
If the 787s are not coming back to Hawaii, and the A330s continue to fade from domestic routes, just how much is left to separate Hawaiian Airlines from every other airline that flies here? We welcome your comments.
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How are the flights from Sacramento to Honolulu? Are they still on the same time schedule? I have a paid for September flight. I hope it will still leave on time.
We just returned from the Big Island on Southwest. I’d much rather fly Southwest then the cramped A321 that Hawaiian flies. Way more leg room on Southwest.
I’ve been flying Alaska 737’s to Hawaii for years from PDX, so if Hawaiian flies the A330 it will be an upgrade, and welcome the 787s to SEA where it would be easily available for International flights. We recently flew on Hawaiian A321 for the first time since Alaska only offers Hawaii flights to HNL on Hawaiian metal. We flew FC, and was felt its FC service was subpar to Alaska’s. Flying back to PDX we purchased Extra Comfort but was also very disappointed with Hawaiian as I had to pay for my cocktail whereas I’m used to Alaska’s Premium Comfort product which includes alcohol and snacks! Sorry but I feel the Alaska takeover will hopefully improve the cabin product and service!
As a California to Hawaii flyer, reassigning the Dreamliners is disappointing but not surprising.
Hawaii tourism is down, as desired by the Gov, is it not?
United now has very reasonable prices to the islands, undercutting Hawaiian and Alaska rates, and they’ve got nicer planes too.
We used to fly Hawaiian exclusively until we experienced a dreadful delay in the SF Bay area – Our HA plane had mechanical trouble flying in and it took them over 7 hours of waiting in the airpirt to admit it was not going to fly. We learned that when a HA flight gets cancelled, HA has no backup! It’s not a hub so there are no extra planes.
Finally, a mere 6 seats were available on a partner airline, but you had to be shuttled to SFO with no guarantee that you’ll make it. Families waiting with kids, then told to go home and come back tomorrow.
That was the end of HA for us. HA lost its Aloha Spirit long before Alaska Airlines started running routes.
Just flew back to LAX from HNL. I’d normally fly coach out and then lay flat first back on a redeye as I work the next day. Hawaiians redeyes to LAX are now A321 based; so I flew a United 777 back. As Hawaiian phases out the wide bodies I will phase out my spending with them.
Hawaiian Airlines has 24 A330’s, not 34. 10 are freighters own by Amazon and operated by HA on Amazon’s behalf.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Alaska Airlines.
Not surprising at all. It was evident from day one all Alaska wanted out of this merger was the wide-bodies and the know how (flying and maintaining them) they cared nothing for the Hawaiian brand or legacy Ben M just cares about his bottom line
Of course he does. That’s his singular job.
A publicly traded corporation is not a hobby.
It’s not looking better for Alaska customers either. Ben M has made it clear that he wants the airline to be a simple utility. Promised elite benefits simply don’t materialize, and has basically become flat out fraud. Fares are premium priced without premium service. Spin the roulette wheel on bookings and hope you don’t fall on the next upcoming IT shortsighted outage. I’d give anything to have the Alaska Air back that was there 5 years ago. But Ben has made it his mission to push more loyal customers to Delta and even United. The regional schedules don’t work for regional-only travel, and they don’t work for making connections either. They seem to be optimized for pilot work schedules, not for customer travel schedules. They want to jeopardize dollars to save cents. I keep hearing more and more stories from 40k, 75k, and 100k elites saving money by flying Delta and UA business class for less than Alaska economy. Sadly, it seems the loved Alaska Air is already dead and gone.
I’m sad to see changes made. With its wide body Hawaiian Plane So much comfort. You felt like you already arrived when you hoarded a Hawaiian flight A321 to HNl from LAX,,? Anyway big Hawaii smiles from the Pilots. Anyway thanks for some many dependable flight Hawaiian Airlines ,
.
Alaska has an identity problem much like Allegheny and Piedmont had growing out of regional to top tier international carriers. Change the name to Hawlaska and keep the pretty lady on the tail and dump Charlie Manson as a logo. What was that ever for anyway. Good airliner trying to climb in to unlnown territory isn’t going too well.
Or howabout ‘ AlasHawa Airlines ‘ ?
Most certainly, though, ‘ Pualani ‘ on the tail instead of ‘ Chester ‘ is a no brainer ! …. But in the interest of fairness, why not ‘Pualani’ on one side & ‘Chester’ on the other!
I absolutely agree….I fly Hawaiian from PHX- HNL -OGG, we have a second home there. I fly Hawaiian because our feels like “home” I refuse to fly on a narrow body to Hawaii. We just flew to Maui, June 18th, nothing has changed for this route, however, if Hawaiian goes to a single body, Nope, not flying in it. I’ll go to LAX or SFO, for a wide body non stop to Maui. Walt and the newest schedules I see when looking to book on Hawaiian from Phx is going up to SEA then over to Maui. I’m not doing that either!!!
People won’t stop coming to HI because of the sardine cans they will be forced to fly in. They won’t like it, but what choice will they have? With the airlines, it is strictly ‘bottom dollar’, a bean-counter way of doing business. ‘Let them whine’ will be their theme song, and pax will just have to get used to the refrain, “That’s just the way it is. Just shut up and grin and bare it.’
The ones that have the bucks will find a better way to get to HI, will stay at their swanky hotels or with their equally affluent friends in their exclusive neighborhoods with a gate and a nice view. The rest of us ‘average’ people will get the ‘garden view’ at the ‘affordable’ motel/hotel well away from the coast line. (Okay, maybe not that bad, but money will be the big decider on how much you get to ‘enjoy’ your visit. You know that will be the future.)
Corporate of consumer, we all follow the almighty $$ in one way or another !
I predicted that here when the merger was first announced and sure enough, I was right. Alaska is going to take over all of Hawaiian streamliners for service of their own to Europe in Asia. Perhaps some A3 30s too.
I am not too upset about the loss of the 787 – because under Hawaiian we knew it was only ever temporary – and it was just used on the LAX and PHX routes to train the pilots and crew.
On the PHX route we have one daily flight, which reverted to the A330, which succeeded the 767 when they retired. We never had a single isle plane.
It makes sense that we would keep the A330 as the demand is there, while we had the 787 was usually full.
As someone who lives near Seattle and loves the Dreamliner (I’ve only flown on it once so far…with Hawaiian…but I want to fly on it many more times), I’m looking forward to seeing Hawaiian’s 787s at Sea-Tac. (Sorry Hawaii and CA!!!) Historically, only foreign airlines (such as ANA) have flown Dreamliners to Seattle, so it will be nice to have a U.S. airline join them. I’ve been to HI three times recently, and I hope to return next winter on Hawaiian/Alaska. 🙂