The biggest new Hawaii widebody push announced today did not come from Hawaiian-Alaska Airlines. Seven mainland hubs are involved. Every long-haul segment is widebody. Four cabins onboard, including lie-flat suites and a true premium economy section. Meanwhile, the airline that built its identity around Hawaii is busy launching flights to London and Rome and repainting 787s into Alaska livery.
This morning, Delta went big on Hawaii from Minneapolis, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, New York JFK, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles. Some routes are brand new. Others are coming back after being sidelined. Several move to daily service. This was not just some minor tweak buried in a schedule update. It was a major announcement that Hawaii still matters from and to places outside the West Coast.
Seven hubs, all widebody.
Minneapolis to Maui launches December 19, 2026, on the A330-300, operating daily in peak and five times weekly in winter. It becomes the first nonstop ever linking the Upper Midwest directly to Maui. Boston to Honolulu returns the same day, with daily peak-season service and four times a week in winter. Atlanta to Honolulu adds a second frequency three times weekly from January through March 2027. Detroit to Honolulu jumps from three times weekly to daily beginning November 9, 2026. JFK to Honolulu increases from five times weekly to daily starting April 1, 2026. Salt Lake City to Kona starts earlier in the season on November 9, 2026. Los Angeles to Kona moves up to premium widebody service on Delta’s 767-300.
Every long-haul route in this announcement is widebody. These widebody A330 and B767 planes operate with four cabins: Delta One lie-flat suites, Premium Select, Comfort+, and Main.
Same route, different era.
Hawaiian also flies JFK to Honolulu on its A330. Delta is taking that same route daily. While it’s the same in many ways, Delta is distinguishing itself with four classes of service.
We recently reviewed Hawaiian’s A330 first class and documented what that experience looks like today. The A330 Optimares lie-flat seats, installed in 2015, are now very visibly worn and frayed in places. The padding felt thin for our redeye, where sleep was of primary importance. Blankets were among the most threadbare we can remember. Pillows were flat. The amenity kit arrived in a plain paper sleeve. The 2-2-2 layout offers no privacy and no direct aisle access for half the cabin. There was still no premium economy section at all, although that is promised in a future update.
Delta’s A330-300 features enclosed suites, each with direct aisle access and a dedicated premium economy cabin. One BOH reader, Steve C, said it plainly: “we’ll almost certainly switch to Delta or any other airline that has a real premium economy section versus Hawaiian’s A330, at least until Alaska gets its act together and really refurbishes them.”
The promised A330 refurbishment with new lie-flat business suites and premium economy still has no firm start date. Hawaiian’s $600M investment plan, which we broke down in Hawaiian’s $600M Upgrade Plan Sounds Big, works out to roughly $120M per year spread across airports, fleet updates, technology, and lounges. That promised overhaul doesn’t appear as part of that plan, when up to 60 economy seats per plane may disappear to make room, as discussed in Hawaiian’s A330 Overhaul Could Drop 60 Economy Seats and Say Goodbye To Most Economy Seats On Hawaii Flights. For now, the long-haul hard product most travelers see on Hawaii wide-bodies remains circa 2015.
The route that both airlines abandoned.
Boston to Honolulu was a route that both Hawaiian and Delta once flew. Then both pulled out. Delta is coming back with four-cabin widebody service. Hawaiian is not. So one airline decided the route was worth rebuilding, at least seasonally. The other remained gone. For Boston travelers who want nonstop lie-flat service to Hawaii, many of whom have commented on BOH, that is not a subtle thing.
The hubs Hawaiian has not touched.
Minneapolis, Atlanta, Detroit, and Salt Lake City have never had nonstop Hawaii service from Hawaiian Airlines and are core to Delta Air Lines. With this announcement, each now connects to the islands on widebody aircraft again with lie-flat seating and premium economy.
Minneapolis to Maui alone is significant and is great news for the Valley Isle. Detroit going daily and Atlanta adding a second frequency significantly improve Midwest and Southeast access to Hawaii. Salt Lake City starting earlier stretches Delta’s season, while Hawaiian flies that route daily using its narrow-body A321neo. Alaska’s Hawaii strategy remains primarily West Coast-centric by comparison.
Hawaiian-Alaska build out a global airline.
Over the past year, Alaska-Hawaiian has been busy building something much bigger than Hawaii. London, Rome, and Iceland from Seattle. Tokyo and Seoul from Seattle. Oneworld integration. Atmos Rewards. Hub growth in San Diego and Portland. A network now spanning more destinations, in fact the most in company history.
Hawaii flying during that stretch has largely been about optimization rather than expansion. Frequencies shift, aircraft swap, and routes shuffle. No meaningful premium cabin evolution on the A330 and no new long-haul entries.
While Alaska-Hawaiian works diligently building out its global airline, other airlines, from Delta to Southwest and United, see this as an opportunity to build deeper into Hawaii from their mainland hubs.
What this means and does not mean.
West Coast to Hawaii remains firmly locked as Hawaiian-Alaska territory. And keep in mind that Delta’s B 767 and A330s are not new aircraft. So this is not a takeover story. But it is another reminder that Hawaii still is a prized market. That may be even more true for long-haul premium travelers from beyond the traditional West Coast gateways.
If you live in one of those regions, Hawaii just got easier to reach in a four-cabin airplane. If you are Alaska-Hawaiian, this is what happens when you look in another direction for long enough.
Chime in, please. Have you flown lie-flat to Hawaii recently, and on what airline and from where? Would you route through one of these hubs for a four-cabin widebody instead of connecting through the West Coast?
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RE; Colorado, Denver airport DIA. United is only airline with non stop Den-Hnl using old 777-200; no seatback screens and does not support Labtops for movies etc.. When will UA upgrade A/C Den-Hnl. And, any other airline projecting competition for UA Den-Hnl non stop next 12 Mths?????
You made my winter with this news. I used to fly the BOS-HNL route in Hawaiian. While I was a loyal customer and enjoyed the lie-flats I found the premium sections were great for a long flight too – especially if you got the right seats. The lie-flats from the Hawaiian flight were quirky with a thin sleeping pad and odd angles for stretching out that constrained the feet a lot. More than the seat it was the wonderful service team that made that flight special. I haven’t flown on Delta to Hawai’i because of my seemingly misplaced loyalty but oh, I will now.
Yay for Delta! I would happily sit in economy with my knees under my chin to go non-stop BOS-KOA.
Thanks for the great news. It’s very sad to have to say good bye, Hawai’ian.
We just flew Hawaiian home HNL to PDX. Although we didn’t lie flat for this daytime trip we enjoyed the space in 1st class. What made this trip exceptional were the flight attendants. I can sincerely say this was the best flight we have ever flown. The FA’s continued to check on us the entire flight!
We love the romance of a wide body. We even like the little section behind first class- the extra comfort area. It’s so private in there. My family will be very sad if we completely lose wide body to Hawaii from the west coast. Once we are at the airport our experience is Part of our vacation!
Alaska should have not repainted the beautiful planes of Hawaii. I remember when we flew our family, every year to Maui from Seattle , our kids would get so excited to see the lovely lady painted on the tail. It was an experience they looked forward to, and so did I.
I don’t understand why the fixation of flying to HawaiÊ»i in wide body planes. Of course anything other than the west coast will be in a widebody because of the distance until the A321XLR becomes more widely used. Then watch the airlines shift from wide bodies to single aisle A321XLR planes. It’s a matter of economics not customer desires.
We flew DFW – OGG 2 and weeks ago in business class on an AA 787-8. The lay flat seats were like laying in a coffin, they were so narrow. On the return, we flew HA LIH – LAX on an A321NEO and AA to our home airport in the middle country in first class. Frankly, it was a much better flight experience.
Widebody planes only matter to me when flying internationally more than 8 hours. We’ve flown 7 hours in first class PHL – DUB on Aer Lingus A321NEO and it was fine.
Next month we are flying DFW – BNE 16.5 hours on a new AA 787-9 with the new Flagship Suites. No way would I consider that long of a flight in anything less than business class.
Can you please look into what the service is like for First Class flight from Phoenix to Oahu will be like in May 2026. What type aircraft, seats and service.
Shame they are old planes.
As someone in Salt Lake City, I’m just glad to see Hawaii getting more attention. We’ve frequently connected through LAX or Seattle as the Hawaiian nonstop can be ridiculously high priced. If this gives us a cheaper option, that’s ideal.
Yay Boston. I remember when that route ended and it made it feel like Hawaii was just too far from here. I’m curious whether it lasts or just stays seasonal.
Alaska is clearly trying to build something bigger. Europe and Asia are expensive plays and take focus. Maybe this is just normal competitive jockeying, not some huge strategic miss. Time will tell but clearly the other airlines see this as an opportunity.
As someone who has been loyal to Hawaiian for years, this one is tough. The JFK flight used to feel special, but the product really feels dated. I don’t need a suite with a door, but I do want better. If other airlines are adding that from more cities, Alaska needs to move faster.
I live in Minneapolis and this is the first time I’ve seen a nonstop to Maui from here. That alone makes this a big deal. We’ve always had to connect on the West Coast or elsewhere and it adds hours and stress. If I can fly widebody from my home airport, I’m going to look.
MarkMinn,
Not sure if Maui is your endpoint, but we flew nonstop on Delta from Minneapolis to HNL in June last year-on a wide-body, economy class for 8 hours. One hot meal and a hot snack (1 hour before landing; why so late?). It was a comfortable flight; flight attendants were professional and friendly. We love Minnesota so we’ll definitely do this flight again.