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Alaska Airlines is using former Hawaiian Airlines 787s to fly from Seattle to Europe and Asia, opening new one-stop options for Australians via Honolulu. Hawaiian will keep its Sydney-Honolulu A330 services and add premium cabins in 2028.
Alaska Airlines is now flying to Europe and Asia from its Seattle hub using wide-body 787s inherited from Hawaiian Airlines, creating new one-stop route options for Australian travellers.
The flights follow Alaska's 2024 acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. Passengers boarding an Alaska Airlines 787 in Seattle bound for Europe are sometimes greeted with an aloha from the flight deck. The greeting stuck because the flight crews certified to fly those 787s came over from Hawaiian Airlines. After the acquisition, Seattle-based Alaska reassigned Hawaiian's wide-body 787s, which originally served island routes, to carry passengers long-distance from Seattle to destinations across Europe and Asia.
Hawaiian Airlines Maintains Australia Routes
Hawaiian flight crews once used to flying passengers from all over the world to Hawaii are now flying from Seattle to Europe and Asia. Hawaiian Airlines is not backing away from Australia. It flies between five and seven non-stop flights a week between Honolulu and Sydney, using A330s. Hawaiian Airlines chief executive Diana Birkett Rakow said the carrier sees pretty solid connecting traffic through Honolulu to North America.
Rakow said Australians choosing to fly to Europe via Hawaii are making a really interesting value proposition. If you are in Hawaii, for example, flying through Seattle to connect to Europe is by far the most direct route to go, she said. If we flew in non-stop, you would essentially go over Seattle. She said it is a more geographically direct route than Los Angeles or San Francisco simply because the route is farther north.
So I think that is a cool option for folks from Australia that want to go that route or also want to take a stop-over in Hawaii, Rakow said. According to Hawaiian Airlines, as many as 60 per cent of Australians travelling to North America make a stop-over seasonally. The prospect of reaching Europe from the US, either via Hawaii or Seattle, is not just a roundabout way to avoid the Middle East.
Alaska Airlines Expands Global Competitiveness
Alaska Airlines is now flying to Asia and Europe from its hub in Seattle as part of the race to be the next major American carrier. They will sit alongside Delta, United, American and Southwest. For Alaska Airlines that means expanding from a major regional hub to being a national, and now international, competitor.
When Alaska bought Hawaiian in 2024, it announced a three-year surge designed to add 1 billion dollars in profit to the company in a program called Accelerate. Like so many other ambitious expansions in the aviation sector, Accelerate ran headlong into a surge in costs driven by higher fuel prices, the result of open-ended conflict in the Middle East. The airline's fuel bills are up 85 per cent year-on-year.
Airlines Launch Premium Economy Brands
Yet despite the jump in operating costs being passed along to consumers, demand for travel remains strong. Like other airlines with global aspirations, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are now leaning heavily into the premium economy space. They are introducing a new premium travel brand called Aurora, inspired by its roots across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, with refreshed cabins, better lounges and a higher quality of food.
Our guests have told us that premium matters, Alaska Airlines chief executive Ben Minicucci told an audience of journalists and investors. They want the same elevated experience whether they are crossing the Pacific, the Atlantic or crossing the country. At the same time, Hawaiian Airlines will roll out a premium brand experience called Lei Hoku, meaning garland of stars in Hawaiian.
The plan will mean Hawaiian Airlines' 24-plane-strong A330 fleet will be given 22 lie-flat suites on international business class and domestic first class flights. For Australians flying across the Pacific, Hawaii's A330 fleet is already fully wired with ultra-fast Starlink. We are all-in on Starlink, for free, for everybody, said Alaska Airlines chief financial officer Shane Tackett. It is an amazing experience.
Rakow said business travellers want full connectivity, especially for a longer flight. Qantas offers Viasat internet connection for passengers, in a rollout that is still not complete. Asked if there was a concern about Elon Musk's Starlink acquiring too much power over the aviation sector, Rakow said the airline was focused on making sure it delivered what passengers want.
The way that business and technology works is that somebody is going to come up with a competitor to Starlink or maybe even something better, who knows? she said. After the cabin upgrades are complete, the full cabin will have about 40 per cent premium seating, up from 30 per cent today. Passengers will also have dedicated check-in desks and an airy new Hawaiian Lounge in Honolulu, as well as a chef-designed menu and better amenities.
The bad news for Hawaiian Airlines is that the upgrade will not happen until 2028. Qantas flies almost the same route from Honolulu to Sydney. While Hawaiian Airlines, which just joined the Oneworld alliance, costs more in points to book, it has cheaper fees and taxes. Not all Qantas frequent flyers know that you can use Qantas points on a wide range of other partner airlines, which includes Hawaiian Airlines, Brandon Loo, editor-in-chief of Point Hacks, told this masthead.
On the Sydney-Honolulu route, Hawaiian Airlines charges 161 dollars in fees and taxes for a business class reward, whereas Qantas charges 777 dollars, Loo said. Even though Hawaiian Airlines business class costs 9600 Qantas points more than flying Qantas itself, members can save over 600 dollars per person.
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smh:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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