Last updated on July 25th, 2024 at 07:05 pm
With its shiny new Boeing 787-9s finally taking operating revenue flights, the question I know many people had on their minds now is what will happen to the other long-haul aircraft’s premium cabin? Unfortunately, the Hawaiian A330s will not get Leihōkū Suites. Most likely not, anyway.
As we all know by now, Hawaiian’s new Leihōkū Suites has been game-changing for them. For the first time, they’re offering a truly world class premium cabin product. Remember, these are the same seats that Qatar is using on some of its Dreamliners, and is the seat American will use as its new business class seats. And, yeah, they’re a huge upgrade compared to the oddball Optimares Maximus Plus seats on the A330s. Unfortunately, the Hawaiian A330s will not get Leihōkū Suites. At least, that’s the current plan. Things can change, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Hawaiian A330s Will Not Get Leihōkū Suites
In an interview with Brian Sumners, and re-reported on by Forbes, Peter Ingram says that Hawaiian A330s will not get Leihoku Suites under the airlines’ current plans. So, what are the plans? According to Hawaiian CEO, Peter Ingram, they’re considering a refresh of the A330’s premium cabin, but there’s no firm timeline for it. He also states that they have no plans to bless the aging birds with Leihōkū Suites or something similar.
Of course, Ingram doesn’t explain why they aren’t considering the Leihōkū Suites for the A330, but I have a pretty good idea for their reasoning. For one, the Adient Ascent (Leihōkū Suite) is quite a bit larger than the Optimares Maximus Plus seats. This, combined with the fact that the A330-200s are, well, smaller than the 787-9 means that there just isn’t space for the new suites.
More important than space, though, is use case. You see, as we learned earlier, as more 787s come online, they’ll be assigned to Hawaiian’s longer and more popular routes. That means New York, Boston, Australia, Tokyo (if and when demand recovers), and Los Angeles and Tokyo. Naturally, that means less popular and shorter routes will see the A330s, so why would Hawaiian want to heavily invest so heavily in these aircraft? Plus, there’s the question of how long they’ll actually remain in the fleet.
That said, I seriously doubt you’ll see the 787s on Las Vegas routes. Next to Los Angeles, Honolulu to Vegas may be the most high-demand route Hawaiian operates, but it wouldn’t make sense to pump money into a route that doesn’t need a competitive edge. After all, the only other airline that flies direct is Southwest, and their presence hasn’t put much of a dent on demand for Hawaiian there. Plus, Southwest’s product really isn’t all that competitive, especially when you consider that Hawaiian’s more popular flights for Vegas are the overnight ones.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, it’s not surprising that the Hawaiian A330s will not get Leihōkū Suites. That said, I sincerely they hope they put something better into these jets, if (I’m sure it will) the 787 proves to be the more popular option after the initial novelty wears off. However, with Hawaiian’s financial condition, the need for a Boeing 717 replacement, and their upcoming merger with Alaska Airlines, there are a lot bigger priorities than new seats. So we’ll see what ultimately happens, especially since no one can say what will happen a few years into the merged airline.
What’s more interesting to me with all this is that Hawaiian Airlines is providing a clearer vision of what’s to come with its fleet. I mean, they’ve already hinted at how they’d use their new Dreamliners, but this confirms that the A330 will serve as more of a secondary role in the future.