United Hawaii Routes and Plans Obstructed by FAA

United temporarily decreased its Hawaii routes for 2024, especially following the decline in tourism partly associated with the Maui wildfires of last summer. In hindsight, this might not have been the best idea given what’s happened now between United and the FAA.

FAA scrutinizes United after multiple incidents.

The FAA has enforced a temporary growth restriction on United Airlines and that includes Hawaii. This seems to have started largely with the Alaska Airlines blowout that followed 14 Hawaii flights on a brand new Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane.

That was followed by United’s own spate of problems on flights which included a range of anomalies that also drew widespread media coverage and scrutiny. The FAA has made it clear that, in United’s case, their ability to introduce new services to its flight operations has been cut. That was acknowledged in an internal memo to employees.

This appears to also include the suspension of United’s ability to approve and promote pilots to fly different aircraft. These move points to the seriousness of the FAA’s concerns.

United will now postpone launching new routes. The first of those were international including to the Philippines and Europe. The delays will be a setback for United, which also wants to capitalize on travel’s recovery, including to Hawaii.

Any new Hawaii routes, plus the international ones planned, will await the outcome of the FAA’s investigation.

Hawaii-centric United Airlines has 200 weekly flights to the islands.

And, as you’ll see below, United may have been planning to expand their current Hawaii footprint, prior to this safety problem arising. The airline will be forced to delay new Hawaii routes so long as it is undergoing the FAA’s safety investigation. The airline hopes to start introducing new services again globally no later than this fall.

This comes while the FAA conducts an unprecedented, comprehensive review of safety standards at the long-time, Hawaii-focused airline.

Just how popular are United Airlines Hawaii flights?

In the context of United’s curtailment of any new route plans amid the safety investigation, it’s relevant to detail just how popular United Hawaii flights are. United is a major player connecting the U.S. mainland and Guam/Tokyo to Hawaii, with nearly 200 flights spanning their mainland hub cities weekly.

The seven hubs from which United flies to Hawaii include the following:

• Denver, with up to four-times daily service on both widebody and narrow-body.
• Chicago, with multiple daily widebody services.
• Houston, with daily widebody service.
• Los Angeles, with up to four-times daily service on both widebody and narrow-body.
• San Francisco, with up to ten-times daily service on both widebody and narrow-body.
• Washington DC and Newark also have widebody flights to Honolulu operated on a seasonal basis.

The large scope of United’s Hawaii footprint underlines the strategic importance of linking their U.S. hubs with Hawaii, despite the current regulatory constraints affecting its ability to expand new Hawaii routes.

United’s already substantial Hawaii flight schedule and the number of widebody flights it operates demonstrate the importance to them of serving the islands.

Do you fly United to Hawaii, and will you be choosing them for your future travels?