Why You Can’t Fly To Hawaii From
For those of you who report loving easy-access California airports when flying to Hawaii, there’s trouble ahead. This comes as airlines are shedding some Hawaii routes faster than a Honolulu minute.
It wasn’t long ago that airlines were adding Hawaii flights.
That was true across the board. And one airport fared better than most with the increased service. Sleepy but ultra-convenient Long Beach airport quickly ramped up Hawaii flights. Hawaiian Airlines jumped on the airport’s waiting list to get flight slots, as did Delta Airlines. Then Hawaii newcomer Southwest Airlines joined the Long Beach to Hawaii party.
This started when Hawaiian began daily service from Long Beach and Honolulu back just five years ago. At the time, we speculated that Long Beach to Maui would be the next destination to be added. And it was. But now everything has changed.
Southwest pulled one of its two Long Beach to Hawaii routes almost entirely.
“Long Beach to Maui has been canceled,” was the news we reported back in July 2022. “While they no longer fly nonstop on this route, Southwest continues to fly between Long Beach and Honolulu. Hawaiian Airlines will be the only airline operating between Long Beach and Maui.” For 2024, the route will return briefly to their schedule in March, albeit just one time a week, on Saturdays.
Hawaiian cancels these flights through the upcoming winter.
It didn’t come as a complete surprise to us that Hawaiian has decided to withdraw from one of its two Long Beach to Hawaii flights for an extended period. The details are that the airline will not fly from Long Beach to Maui starting December 8. They plan to resume the route next year on March 10, following an absence of more than three months. They will not operate that route over the peak holiday season and during the snowbird season in 2024.
Commenter Kimo already exclaimed, “Looks like OGG-LGB is discontinued from 12/14 and the return LGB-OGG from 12/15. What a mess for the winter travel plans!”
We’ve had many complaints about little or no notification from Hawaiian about flight changes. Please let us know what your experience is. BOH editors just learned of an upcoming flight change for which we did receive ample notice from the airline.
Why did Hawaiian pull back on Long Beach? Two reasons are to blame.
First is that the airline is severely challenged, facing year-long engine repairs on its 5-year old fleet of narrow-body planes. That was first reported by Reuters last month, and by Beat of Hawaii. In a nutshell, repairs that were to have been far more brief and on fewer engines escalated suddenly. What was first proposed to take two-months for each aircraft-grounding inspection and repair became 10 months or longer. That has been confirmed by the engine manufacturer as well. Hawaiian has not been forthcoming about the full impact this problem, not of their making, and what will result over the next year or longer. But this is telltale.
The second and equally troubling problem for Hawaii is that Maui is recovering slowly.
Following the Lahaina fire, all of Maui travel has remained depressed. There is finally some recovery occurring, and the test of that will truly be during the upcoming holiday and winter season. But for now, it doesn’t warrant the excess number of flights that all airlines previous had on their schedules.
Excessive route cancellations preceded route termination for the winter season.
Long Beach to Maui was one of the two Hawaiian routes with excessive cancellations we reported on earlier this week. “Flight 71 from Long Beach to Maui has been canceled six times in just the eight days,” we said. Also, “Hawaiian Flight 41 from San Francisco to Maui has been canceled ten times from September 26 through October 17.”
Why Long Beach Hawaii flights work but Orange County Hawaii flights didn’t?
There is significant long-standing demand for Hawaii flights from Orange County (John Wayne Airport), with millions of traveling residents. The only significant alternatives for Hawaii travel other than Long Beach are San Diego or Los Angeles and, to a far lesser degree, Ontario.
Flying from LAX or SAN can means driving an hour or more before considering traffic, airport congestion. If you are considering flying Hawaiian to or from LAX, we suggest you read, This Hawaiian Airlines Terminal Is A Traveler’s Nightmare.
The short runway at John Wayne means aircraft have passenger and cargo limitations with its 5,701-foot length. To compare, that is 800 feet shorter than the 6,500-foot Lihue (LIH) runway, which also causes restrictions. When Aloha Airlines flew from Orange County to Honolulu, it faced weight and passenger limits. United, too, tried Orange County to Hawaii flights, but it wasn’t profitable, and they left.
Long Beach Hawaii flights appeared to be a magical answer.
Long Beach Airport actively sought more Hawaii flights and then got them. When Hawaiian initially expanded at LGB, the Long Beach mayor said, “Hawaiian Airlines making this long-term investment in Long Beach is a real testament to the strength of our airport.”
The airport, located three miles from Long Beach, has three runways up to 10,000 feet in length. It’s also just twenty miles from LAX. But it is entirely different with less traffic, congestion, and no mile-long LAX walk! Guests love that, and we found the same to be true.
Hawaiian A321neo maintenance base at Long Beach Airport.
Hawaii’s bellwether also has a maintenance base at Long Beach Airport. So, having flights to both Honolulu (HNL) and Maui (OGG) and routing their A321 fleet there for maintenance made sense. There was a time when we thought they might even expand further at Long Beach.
The Hawaiian depot is a significant supply and service base and warehouse where mechanics perform a variety of inspections and repairs. However, as far as we know, the year-long A321neo engine repairs needed are not done at Long Beach but instead in Clark, Philippines, at a third-party facility.
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I would ge willing to bet Hawaiian could fill one daily A-330 out of Long Beach to both Maui and Honolulu. A choice of a wide body at a laid back easy to access airport like LGB is the recipe for a win! Sorry, but I really don’t care for the A-321neo seats for 6+ hours. Remember, we gotta be seated for quite some time before those doors close and again when they open in Hawaii.
Unfortunately LGB is their new Hawaiian Overnight A321 Maintenance Base so the likelihood of them flying a different aircraft than the A321 is very low.
A330 works better at LAX to accommodate their codeshare passengers flows. Plus LAX has the lucrative cargo market and facilities to handle all freight which Long Beach airport lacks in comparison.
BOH,
I was just looking for the non-stop flight we take out of Ontario CA to HNL. There are no non-stops now. Hawaiian did have a non-stop which used the A320. We just returned on that non-stop on Sep 30. Is the non-stop gone?
Hi Rod.
That flight is operating, daily, and we don’t currently see any gaps in service.
Aloha.
Would Hawaiian ever consider HNL /KOA flights, even twice a week?
Maybe….once a week then!
Hawaiian and Delta did not install the questionable parts on the engines. Taking a year to repair the engines is unacceptable.
Hawaiian Air should demand that the manufacturer swap out the engines with new or nearly new engines. Those swapped-out Hawaiian engines could be sold for a decent price once the approved parts are installed. Win-Win: Hawaiian gets its planes back in the air sooner. The manufacturer might be able to save some penalty dollars from Hawaiian and a less stressful repair schedule.
We would Gladly pay extra for the convenience of flying in and out of OC (John Wayne) Airport. The airlines could try it out and price tickets accordingly in order to make a nice profit.
Aloha,
Flight HA41 SFO-OGG canceled too. Booked on Oct. 15th for a flight in Dec.
Get my reservation confirmation 4 days later with a new route. HA11 with stopover in Honolulu.
I think because of that engine issue.
Take care,
Toto
It is more of a plane issue than traffic for flights to Maui. A321 engine issues are real. But first, I live in Maui and can tell you there has been a great increase in tourists. It is ignorant media who told people Maui was closed. It never closed except for the Lahaina area—the reason the hotels in West Maui closed was because they housed people. However, the cancellations that followed are directly related to negative media. Many Hotels are already open now and more are ramping up to reopen. Maui was a great place to be in Sept-October. Because so many people believed the media The road to Hana is clear, beaches are all open. Only the old town of Lahaina is closed. Coming to Maui as a tourist right now is cheap and a no-brainer. Aloha
It’s wasn’t people “listening” to the media…the media reported that celebrities like Jason Mamoa etc and the Lt Governor told us all to please stay away etc. Please keep the blame where it belongs.
It wasn’t the media, it was the government of Hawaii. They told everyone to Stay Away. It takes a while for this message to reverse itself.
Thank you for the updated info.
Most important is the people of Maui with this horrible tragedy.
We have with Hawaiian a LGB to OGG flight in March. Thank you to BOH we found out this flight was canceled and re routed through HNL. We checked the reservation at the website to confirm the change.
We’ve never received any e mail etc. letting us know officially.
Thank you for giving us the info.
Hopefully LGB to OGG resumes full time soon, awesome airport !!
Take care
Hi BillandKaryn.
Thanks for letting us know. We’re sorry that you weren’t advised of the change in your reservation. The part we find challenging, is that when one of our flights had a time change, we received notification far in advance. But you and others report receiving no notifications. We aren’t sure what’s up with that.
Aloha.
Thank you for your kind reply.
We love flying Hawaiian but giving no notice of schedule changes is kinda lousy customer service.
We have friends in the airline industry who we told of this and they said that’s really bad.
We’ve flown Delta and Jet Blue who e mail anyone even if the schedule changes 5 minutes.
We’ll stay loyal and keep in perspective that it’s just a minor hiccup.
Thank you both for giving all of us the latest information that can fix little changes !
Take care, Aloha
Issues with Alaska Airlines as well. Our flight schedule from San Jose, CA has been changed twice now. In viewing departures from Kona, there are some days where non-stop is unavailable. Rules with Alaska airfare has also changed dramatically, making flying with Alaska unfavorable.
Keep up the great job with your website and travel news.
Hi Marge.
Thanks. We noted and others commented last week that Alaska too has had Hawaii flight reductions and changes.
Aloha.
Beat Of Hawaii. Thank You So Much for your on the top news! I have pretty much given up mainstream news as it is so depressing, but since loving travel and Hawaii to the core; I just find myself reading your ezine every time it comes out. You are always so informed! thank you!
Hi Sandi.
Thank you! We appreciate your help and nearly 150 comments to date.
Aloha.
It’s sad that Hawaiian has cancelled so many OGG flights. I wonder how many passengers such as myself, used that flight to connect with other island flights? Since they don’t have direct flights to Kona from Long Beach, flying to Maui then catching a hop to the BI was convenient out of LB. Now we will be limited and may be forced to use other airlines. LAX is a nightmare and flying Southwest may be OK for short flights, we won’t fly SW on longer flights. It would be nice if Hawaiian did a direct flight out of LB to Kona or at the very least added an extra Honolulu route?
Southwest stopped daily LGB-OGG during the slow winter season but will be restarting the service again as Saturday only service going forward service resumes March 09 ,2024.