A critical issue may be surfacing on the proposed Alaska-Hawaiian merger related to the future of certain flights, which are a critical lifeline for tourists and residents alike.
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56 thoughts on “Surprising Issues Could Break Alaska/Hawaiian Deal”
AK’s Horizon flys into many Mainland West and Alaska airports that are far smaller with far longer flights. AK will just use a combination of 737s and EMB 175s to better match load to planes during the day like they do at my home airport of RDM. SWA can’t do this as they’re all 737s. Surf boards will just have to wait for a 737, but not everyone else. With most everyone else I agree if AK doesn’t buy HA, HA goes TU. DOJ will be 100% at fault.
looks like all the speculation is moot…HNN just said the merger passed the DOJ review and now goes to the DOT, which I’m guessing is more of a formality…no mention of any conditions…look forward to to the full story tomorrow
Didn’t pass – DOJ just let the clock run out, but same result. Administration probably figured blocking it and having HA potentially crash with large loss of union jobs was a very bad look in an election year, esp. in a very blue state like HI.
Good article. Hawaii does depend on interisland flights a lot and Hawaiian provides the majority of that with Southwest providing a lot as well and both seem to lose money doing it. Alaska is very savvy when it comes to making money. Alaska provides flights to rural areas in Alaska but that is subsidized by the state of Alaska, a state that doesn’t charge income tax (another discussion). History shows interisland doesn’t support 2 major providers well, one usually dies, and then the survivor raises prices to compensate for the loss of money during the price war to survive. Hawaii the state also stands to lose its largest private employer in this deal, which would no longer be a Hawaiian company. Locals do use interisland like mainlanders use freeways, the state should subsidize locals to use it to keep prices low not expect companies to lose money. If Alaska, with no income tax, can do it, Hawaii can do it.
Clarification regarding rural air service subsidies in Alaska: The major subsidy to Alaska Air (and other airlines and bush air taxi operators in Alaska) comes from the Postal Service supporting delivery of the mail to Alaskan bush (rural) towns.
Interisland flying will be moot if the DOJ doesn’t approve the merger because Hawaiian will most likely end up with the same fate as Aloha.
Spirit is looking at the same outcome because the DOJ was “looking out for the consumer.” All of that is irrelevant if the airline goes out of business.
Framing this a little differently : if the deal is approved, AK will “buy” HI’s 737 fleet (or leases), and could use most of them to expand AK’s mainland market or as trade-ins. It would then add regional jets to the inter-island market on thinner routes. EMB would probably be happy to take them. 737’s would be used when the extra capacity is needed. AK probably doesn’t want to operate small numbers of HI’s newer long haul aircraft so they could trade them in for more of what they already have. The inter-island market will be better served and probably profitable. The question is: Is HA’s current management (and their current customers) ready to give up on HI as a long haul airline and also replace the all-737 inter-island fleet with a mix of aircraft that will be more efficient and more suited to the market? Or let HI go bankrupt? The DOJ is just in the way of letting the two airlines and their customers come to a winning solution to HI’s current problems.
HA does not have any 737’s , leased or otherwise.
HA’s current fleet consists of:
19 Boeing 717 (inter-island fleet), with 1 parked.
18 Airbus A321 for narrow-body mainland flights
29 Airbus A330 for widebody mainland and international flights (2 parked)
2 Boeing 787 aircraft for widebody mainland and eventual international flights, slowly replacing the A330 fleet.
Thanks. My mistake. AK might like them better assuming parts are available. They know the Mad Dogs well. The Airbus and BA long range A/C will be valuable.
as Drew said, HA doesn’t own any 737s. Alaska can’t get new ones to replace their old ones very quickly due to the slowdown at Boeing so they are strapped on new airplanes. EMB? The company Embraer? They sell airplanes, they don’t buy them, so not sure if you meant something else. Regional Jets, RJs, are Bombardier made, not EMB, maybe talking the EMBs flown by Horizon? That won’t happen due to union scope from both pilot groups. Already a strong subject since Alaska wholly owns Horizon. 717s are a more economical interisland airplane than the 737s. Maybe a 737-700 would be sort of close, Max- no way, Max engines are designed to save fuel at altitude over time, not up/down quick turns, their savings go away fast. You would have to do less routes with more packed planes with a 737, there is a bit of loss of convenience for folks when the routes are reduced. The 717 is very hard to beat interisland no real 1-for-1 replacement, really the A220 is the closest to the 717.
Jay. EMB builds & sells regional jets and takes trade-ins like all airframes. The A220 is state of the art in all respects and the 717 is the last of the DC-9 line. They both have 2×3 seating but that’s where the similarities end. The A220 will soon be flying to and from the mainland. It beats both of the newer HA long range offerings hands down. Both in efficiency and passenger comfort. It will be particularly good in smaller markets. The majors can kill HA ‘s mainline business any time they want to.
My dear wife recently retired as a high ranking government official. She say’s the reason for the delayed response from DOJ has little to due with questioning the merits of the merger and more to do with a dis-functional government agency who waited to the last minute to review the package.
Bingo. Richard C! Tell DOJ to go away and spend our tax dollars prosecuting people that are obviously breaking the law and lining their own pockets.
I realize that this site is primarily focused on tourism, but this is one issue where residents must take precedence, and tourists’ needs take a back seat.
Those of us on neighbor islands require inter-island flights for work, family, medical appointments, sporting events, and much more. Anything that threatens the frequency and cost of inter-island travel must be taken seriously, and the solution needs to prioritize the needs of state residents over all other considerations. Sorry tourists.
This is interesting. But you have overlooked or don’t know about the very extensive inter-Alaska flight schedules that Alaska Air Lines serves to numerous cities and towns across Alaska, even to very remote and small villages. You could take a boat or ferry between various Hawaii islands, but there is no possible connection between many Alaska villages, except flying. So, this is a type of service Alaska Air has done for many years.
Correct. An important distinction however is that the state of Alaska subsidizes Alaska airlines to do this. The state of Hawaii does not subsidize Hawaiian airlines. Interesting as one state charges income tax and one does not. I think Hawaii should have subsidized locals to use Hawaiian airlines for things like hospital visits, sporting events, and a certain amount of personal travel for family visits. Alaska pays Alaska Airlines directly to go to these locations, I think Hawaii should give vouchers to locals, but once Alaska buys Hawaii it is no longer a Hawaii company and as long as someone else is willing to do interisland (SWA) that is off the table to provide subsidies to keep it going.
Alaska Airlines adding a Sub fleet of Hawaiian Airlines painted E175 for
Inter island service replacing the 717 world be a huge win for that Hawaii.
The E175 can operate at Molakai , lanai and even possibly West Maui so I’m sure AS would restore service. Yes the E175 would reduce the available seats within the islands. But AS said they plan on using HA A321 and AS 737 to fly inter island flights during peak times similar to Southwest vs having the aircraft sit idle until the outbound L48 flight. This will be a Win Win for everyone except the HA crew since Horizon pay scale much smaller than its Main line owner.
ALPA is a very powerful Union that represents both the Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines. The Hawaiian Pilots have a scope clause in there contract that will prevent Horizon Airlines from operating in the Hawaiian Interisland market. Jet airplanes are not allowed to land in JHM airport which is west Maui airport.
Opinion P. ALPA just hasn’t seen a deal they like yet. DOJ doesn’t need to be involved. The people affected the most by the Jet restrictions can decide. Jets or drive. They will find a way to accommodate Jets.
Kind of hard to drive inter island……
Horizon on intraisland won’t happen for a couple of years if the merger goes through. The Hawaiian pilots contact doesn’t allow it. That contract will be in effect until a new joint pilots contact is passed. That is probably a couple of years away.
Not gonna happen. The Embraer will not accommodate surfboards. Cargo hold access is too small.
Dysfunctional government? Imagine that….
The e 175s currently in commuter divisions of airlines may not accommodate surfboards but the e 190s under discussion to replace the inter island flights are larger planes comparable to the 717s or smal 737s, 120 -140 seats and will accommodate surfboards. They even have capability to fly zhawaii – Mainland on thin routes. The union pilot issue is moot because the size would require these to be operated by mainline pilots just like the 717s.
What I don’t get is when HA was charging a huge amount of money to travel inter island they praised when SW entered the market. SW lowered fares and now-well now Hawaii wants to complain about SW. Not sure exactly what it is that HA has over SW. But why argue. AK isn’t going to dive into inter island flying. If they do, well everyone will start to hate on AK. Clearly it’s a no win situation in the HA market. Gaining a fleet when planes are hard to come by. Buying another airline is the way to go. AK will make a lot of promises. In the end don’t count on the same route structure as HA. When SW scales way back guess everyone can find someone else to complain. “Aloha spirt” clearly isn’t going to happen again. Aloha was it and it was let go.