Aviation industry rumors started several months ago and are getting louder by the day about an exciting new route possibly coming to Hawaii. The fact is, the route itself isn’t unexpected; instead, the surprise is the company rumored to be planning it.
Hawaiian Airlines’ longest routes.
Naysayers have their list of reasons why similar long routes to Hawaii don’t work. Balderdash! They said the same thing about Hawaiian’s other longest routes and were largely wrong. As with New York City, it took time to make it work, but in the end, it definitely did.
That isn’t to say that all long-thin Hawaii routes work, as is the case this week with United’s downgraded Washington DC to Honolulu route, which has just been cut to be all but non-existent, at once per week. Or Hawaiian’s route to Orlando, which also didn’t make it. But it comes as Hawaiian has been able to drive demand and set its New York to Honolulu frequency to be daily throughout its entire schedule. So some of these do work, and others, for whatever reasons, appear not to.
Honolulu to London.
For years we have been convinced and proffered that Hawaiian Airlines planned to make a business proposition for a new route from Honolulu to London. However, a different plane at Hawaiian would be needed for that route. Their current-generation A330 fleet has a maximum range of 7,250 miles, while London sits at 7,237. Given the regular headwinds and other possible flight issues, that is not a workable solution.
So we have always envisioned it would be the new fleet of longer-range Hawaiian Air Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the first of which is still scheduled for delivery at Hawaiian Airlines this year, that would open that door. Maybe we were not as far off in that thinking as some have thought. And here’s why.
British Airways London to Honolulu rumors swirl.
In the past few months, pilot/aviation forums began discussing this potential route, which would decisively put the kibosh on Hawaiian Airlines’ possible plans even before they get started. It comes when British Airways (BA) is revamping its US flights. For example, BA is set to end its Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights to San Jose effective October 15, 2023.
The discussions appear to have emanated from people who work at BA. Further, if British launches Honolulu flights, the route might primarily be targeted to their British Airways Holidays, which are all-inclusive vacations popular with British travelers.
The flights would operate on long-range aircraft, either Boeing 777-300ER or Dreamliner 787. British Airways is already deeply entrenched in US-to-UK travel and currently flies to 28 locations in North America.
Good idea, maybe it could be used as a stop over for Australia / New Zealand with Qantas or another alliance airline.
for BA to operate LON-HNL they would need to have an onward opportunity in either direction. That points to AKL. Right now, Air New Zealand and Hawaiian offer service HNL-AKL, but Air New Zealand dropped London a couple of years ago and now feeds its Star Alliance partner United over LAX. HA could easily offer LHR-HNL-AKL, as could BA. Sydney is a bit further than over Asia so I don’t see that but I do see a case for LON (either Heathrow or Gatwick) – HNL – Auckland.
I can’t wait to see HNL to LHR flight. Especially with British Airways. British Airways is a codeshare partner with Alaska and American Airlines which means miles traveled on British Airways would complement my Alaska Miles program. I would much rather fly over the pole than across the Mainland to connect with a flight in JFK or BOS to the ol’ sod. Hawaiian better get started or they will lose out to British Airways.