Hawaiian Airlines boosts Honolulu hub with Asian carriers tie-up

Hawaiian Airlines is determined to strengthen and expand its partnerships further with Asian carriers. The airline also wants to add various routes to its global network. Low-cost Hawaii’s flagship carrier indicated that it is looking forward to capitalize on the opportunities following reducing of domestic access to partner foreign carriers by many leading U.S. airlines.

Media reports said that Hawaiian Airlines is already into codeshare agreements with four Asian carriers over the past 3 years. The reports also stated that the airline is also into talks with new potential partners in Asia and may also further extend some of its existing partnerships to boost travel to the mainland U.S.

Hawaiian Airlines has stated that it is planning to boost Honolulu’s status as a hub for Asia-mainland U.S. traffic with its new as well as expanded partnerships. The launch of flights to nine destinations in Asia-Pacific over the past 5 years has already strengthened Honolulu’s status as an alternative hub for Asia-US.

Travel experts said that Hawaiian Airlines has itself slowed down its own expansion in Asia significantly, but is now aiming to bolster traffic growth and earn additional revenues while potentially supporting the expansion of its mainland U.S. network.

Hawaiian Airlines is presently using its widebody fleet to offer flight services to 22 destinations, including 9 long-haul destinations in the Asia-Pacific, 2 medium-haul destinations in South Pacific, and 11 medium-haul destinations in the mainland U.S. The two South Pacific destinations include Papeete (Tahiti) and Pago Pago (American Samoa), both of which can be reached from Honolulu within 5 to 6 hours. The nine destinations being served in Asia, New Zealand and Australia take around 8 to 11 hours to reach from Honolulu.

Earlier, Hawaiian Airlines launched flights to Sydney, its first and only long-haul destination, in 2004 and operated it for several years. However, the airline further strengthened its Asia-Pacific network by introducing flights to 8 new destinations in the region in 2010. Prior to expanding its reach to Asia-Pacific, Hawaiian Airlines was primarily focusing on the inter-island and Hawaii-mainland U.S. markets.

Hawaiian Airlines is currently into codeshare agreements with four Asian carriers, which includes Korean Air, China Airlines, Air China and All Nippon Airways.