Alaska Air Group today plans to tell investors in New York that Hawaiian Airlines will take over West Coast routes from Alaska Airlines to Hawaii and fly new nonstop routes from Seattle to Japan and South Korea, and announce more Hawaiian Air planes, and flight and ground crews.
The additional planes and routes add up to more union jobs and work for Hawaiian Airlines, CEO Joe Sprague told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser ahead of today’s Alaska Air Group Investor Day in New York.
Hawaiian Air crews will fly new, nonstop routes from Seattle to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport and to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport starting in early 2025 in yet another indication of faith that Japanese tourism to Hawaii will increase despite the weakness of the yen.
This month U.S. Customs and Border Protection added Daniel K. Inouye International Airport to its Global Entry Program, cutting hours of time for Japanese tourists to get into Honolulu.
It all increases the hope that Japanese tourism to Hawaii will continue to recover in 2025 after the COVID-19 pandemic and fall of the yen.
“Our support for the Japan market is significant,” Sprague said. “Our commitment to the Japan market for Hawaii remains strong.”
The West Coast routes for Hawaiian Airlines take advantage of Hawaiian’s experience with trans-Pacific flights, Sprague said, and frees up Alaska Air crews to focus on North American routes.
In a statement, Ben Minicucci, chief executive officer at Alaska Air Group — which includes Hawaiian as a wholly owned subsidiary — said, “We believe our guests will be as excited as we are about these new nonstop flights to Tokyo and Seoul — two of the world’s most dynamic cities. From our global gateway in Seattle, we can conveniently connect travelers from across our network as they head to Asia and beyond. Hawaiian’s spacious widebody aircraft, along with its excellent onboard service and amenities, will make for a terrific trip from one side of the Pacific Rim to the other.”
Changes in scheduling between the two airlines and its partners mean passengers from Hawaii can more effortlessly fly to any U.S. destination and as far away as Florida, Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson Alex Da Silva said.
Sprague said, “The benefit for Hawaii means you’ll have better options to get to the West Coast and connection options to the rest of the country.”
Scheduling changes and additional flights include midmorning and late-afternoon departures to Maui instead of just morning departures, and midafternoon and red-eye departures out of Maui.
The changes mean Hawaiian will likely hire more than 100 additional flight attendants, another 100 or so ground crew and more pilots, although likely fewer than 100, Sprague said.
The process to bring in additional pilots should be relatively easy, he said, because “Hawaiian had a pool of pre-screened applicants.”
Alaska Air Group calls its Seattle hub the busiest on the West Coast among any other airline.
Daily nonstop flights between Seattle and Tokyo are scheduled to begin May 12 aboard Hawaiian’s Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Flights can already be booked at alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com.
Nonstop flights between Seattle and Seoul Incheon are scheduled to begin in October.
Hawaiian plans more flights and additional arrival times into Hawaii, along with increasing the number of weekly flights from Honolulu to Tokyo International Airport to 14.
Along with nonstop flights between Honolulu and Osaka and Fukuoka, round-trip flights between Hawaii and Japan total 24 per week.
More Hawaiian routes from Seattle to unspecified destinations throughout Asia are expected to be announced through 2030.
