Hawaii’s largest airline is increasing its reach, but not by expanding its routes. No, instead, Hawaiian Air signs an interline agreement with Jetstar.
Hawaiian Airlines has been expanding at a record pace recently. Thanks to the Airline’s new fleet of Airbus A321neo aircraft, Hawaiian has been aggressively expanding across the U.S. West Coast. This is especially true of direct routes to the neighbor islands. However, there have been some new international (seasonal) routes too. But now, Hawaiian is once again expanding its reach through partnerships. And this time, Hawaiian has chosen to team up with the Jetstar Group.
Jetstar Interline Agreement
Best known in Hawaii as Qantas’ low-cost carrier, Jetstar also operates a number of regional subsidiaries. And for the purposes of this partnership, Hawaiian will be focusing on the main Jetstar Airways and Jetstar Japan. With Jetstar Airways, Hawaiian will offer flights to Honolulu via Aukland from the following Jetstar destinations within New Zealand:
- Wellington
- Christchurch
- New Plymouth
- Dunedin
- Palmerston North
- Napier
- Nelson
- Queenstown
In Japan, Jetstar Japan passengers will be able to connect through Osaka, Tokyo, or Sapporo from the following destinations:
- Fukuoka
- Kagoshima
- Takamatsu
- Okinawa
- Kumamoto
Unfortunately, this interline agreement will not include Jetstar Pacific or Jetstar Asia, nor will it include any destinations within Australia. Currently, Jetstar serves Hawaii from Melbourne and Sydney using Boeing 787-8s.
Onward Connections
And while Honolulu will likely be the primary destination for most travelers of these new routes, they may also connect to the following cities throughout the mainland:
- Hilo
- Kahului
- Kailua-Kona
- Las Vegas
- Lihue
- Long Beach
- Los Angeles
- New York – JFK
- Oakland
- Phoenix
- Portland
- Sacramento
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle/Tacoma
- San Jose
Hawaiian Air Signs an Interline Agreement with Jetstar, Final Thoughts
Like I always say, the more options, the better. However, I find it interesting that Hawaiian chose to partner with Jetstar rather than Virgin Australia and Japan Airlines. After all, Hawaiian already has codeshare agreements with these two airlines, and both serve the same destinations as Jetstar. Further, Virgin Australia doesn’t directly compete with Hawaiian (yet), and Japan Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines plan to form a joint venture in the not-too-distant-future. But, whatever works, I guess. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.