HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines on Tuesday announced it intends to provide new nonstop service between Fukuoka, Japan and Honolulu starting as soon as November, subject to government approvals.
HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines on Tuesday announced it intends to provide new nonstop service between Fukuoka, Japan and Honolulu starting as soon as November, subject to government approvals.
Hawaiian plans to operate four weekly flights between Fukuoka Airport on the island of Kyushu and Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
“We are eager to bring travelers in Fukuoka and throughout Kyushu our warm Hawaiian hospitality along with the convenience of non-stop flights to Hawai‘i,” said Theo Panagiotoulias, senior vice president for global sales and alliances at Hawaiian Airlines. “Japan is a special place to Hawaiian and Hawai‘i, and we are excited to make both island chains more accessible for our guests.”
Hawaiian’s proposed new service is subject to the airline securing FUK slots that enable a commercially viable schedule. Additional approvals are also required from Japanese and U.S. government agencies.
“Fukuoka Prefecture and the state of Hawaii have been sister states since 1981, and have been establishing exchanges in various areas, including tourism, culture, and the economy,” said Masanori Hashimoto, director general of airport planning bureau, Fukuoka Prefectural government. “We are excited that the discontinuation of service to Hawai‘i this month will be short lived. Hawaiian’s new service will ensure that our Hawai‘i exchange relationship and opportunities to travel abroad will be unaffected.”
Fukuoka Prefecture is home to more than 5 million of the 13 million residents of Kyushu, the third largest and most southerly of Japan’s four main islands.
In 1981, the prefecture became Hawai‘i’s first sister state in recognition of their deep cultural and economic ties. Hawaiian previously operated non-stop service between FUK and HNL from April 2012 through June 2014. Hawaiian’s new FUK-HNL flights would complement the airline’s Japan network, which includes nonstop service connecting the Hawaiian Islands with both Haneda and Narita in Tokyo, as well as Osaka and Sapporo.
