There’s good news coming for travelers flying out of Texas and Florida to Hawaii. Next year, Hawaiian Airlines will be flying nonstop to Austin, Texas, and Orlando, Florida, using Airbus A330 aircraft from its base in Honolulu. In addition, the carrier will also be adding flights to Ontario, California, and a new flight from Maui to Long Beach, California.
New long-haul domestic flights
Beginning on March 11th, Hawaiian will be offering two weekly flights between Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) and Orlando International Airport (MCO). Orlando will become Hawaiian’s third East Coast US gateway.
The schedule for Orlando flights is as follows:
- HA86 departs HNL for MCO on Thursdays and Sundays, departing at 17:15 and arriving at 07:00 the next day
- HA85 departs MCO for HNL on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 08:15 and arrive at 14:05 the same day
In Texas, from April 21st, Hawaiian will add its 16th US city and its first south-central city with two weekly flights between Honolulu and Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS).
The schedule for Austin flights is as follows:
- HA82 departs HNL for AUS at 10:00 and arrives at 22:10 on Wednesdays and Saturdays
- HA81 departs AUS for HNL at 10:10 and arrives at 13:30 on Thursdays and Sundays
Both of these flights will operate using 278-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft. There are 18 lie-flat first class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, 68 extra-legroom economy seats, and 192 standard economy seats.
New California flights
From Honolulu, Hawaiian will also add new flights to Ontario International Airport (ONT) with five weekly nonstop flights beginning on March 16th. Ontario will join Hawaiian’s Los Angeles-area operations and complement existing operations out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Long Beach. The schedule for Ontario flights is as follows:
- HA74 departs Honolulu for Ontario on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 13:05 and arrives at 21:35
- HA73 departs Ontario for Honolulu on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 09:05 and arrives at 12:20
In addition, Hawaiian will be expanding its services out of Long Beach Airport (LGB). This will be with daily nonstop flights to Kahului, Maui (OGG), starting on March 9th of that year. The schedule for these flights is as follows:
- HA72 departs OGG for LGB at 12:45 and arrives at 20:05
- HA71 departs LGB for OGG at 08:35 and arrives at 12:35
Both of these routes will operate using Airbus A321neos. These aircraft have 16 recliner-style domestic US first class seats, 44 extra-legroom economy seats, and 129 standard economy seats.
On all of these new routes, Peter Ingram, President and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, stated the following:
“We are delighted to bring our superior value proposition to travelers visiting Hawai‘i from Austin, Ontario and Orlando, while adding service to Maui from Long Beach. 2021 is going to be a special time to experience Hawai‘i, and we can’t wait to welcome onboard guests from our newest cities.”
Why Hawaiian is adding new routes
Hawaiian Airlines began to start its recovery only in late-October when Hawaii opened up for tourists from the mainland. Hawaiian has continued to restore its flight schedules and is gearing up to restart long-haul domestic operations, including to New York-JFK and Boston.
With international flights currently uncertain and a near certainty that Hawaiian will be operating fewer frequencies for the time being on certain routes, the airline likely has a fair bit of downtime for aircraft. Rather than let a plane cost money on the ground, the airline is taking the hint from plenty of other airlines and looking at adding new flights in a bid to capture additional revenues, and these two are interesting ideas.
According to the airline, Hawaiian’s flights to Orlando are in response to demand from Hawaiian residents wanting to visit its attractions, including Walt Disney World, Universal Theme Parks, SeaWorld, the Kennedy Space Center, and more.
Austin is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the United States, and it is attracting the attention of many international carriers. British Airways and Lufthansa already had operated flights to London and Frankfurt, respectively, out of Austin. KLM was also set to launch operations to the city, though those have currently been delayed. In recent years, American Airlines also began to grow out of Austin.
Hawaiian is also betting on its premium leisure orientation as a way to get out of the crisis and rebound. These new routes are in line with that strategy.
Are you going to fly any of these new routes on Hawaiian Airlines? Let us know in the comments!
All schedule times in the piece are local.
