From the very beginning, we knew Hawaiian Airlines would put their new Dreamliners on West Coast routes for familiarization. But now we know what routes specifically will be blessed with visits from the carbon bird as Hawaiian announces initial 787 routes.
There’s no doubt that everyone is excited to see Hawaiian’s 787s enter service. Not only are the Dreamliners gorgeous, but they drastically enhance Hawaiian’s hard product – at least for passengers up front. After all, the Leihoku Suites are far superior to what Hawaiian currently offers on their Airbus A330s, though the A330s 2+4+2 seating arrangement is far better than the 787s 3+3+3 layout. But that’s neither here nor there, I’m here to tell you how and when you can fly these magnificent jets when they go into service next year.
Hawaiian Announces Initial 787 Routes
In its press release, Hawaiian announces initial 787 routes, and none of them are really a surprise to me. As I said earlier, we’ve known that these birds would fly to the West Coast first, though the question always remained – what cities? The first of these routes, unsurprisingly, will be Honolulu – San Francisco, which will begin on April 15 and through May 14. These flights will operate as follows:
- HA12: Honolulu – San Francisco, departing at 1:20 pm HST, arriving at 9:15 pm PT
- HA11: San Francisco – Honolulu, departing at 9:10 am PT, arriving at 11:40 am HST
Next up is Honolulu – Los Angeles, which will commence on May 14, though Hawaiian has not provided an end date. These flights will operate as:
- HA2: Honolulu – Los Angeles, departing at 2:50 pm HST, arriving at 11:10 pm PT
- HA3: Los Angeles – Honolulu, departing at 10:00 am PT, arriving at 12:40 pm HST
Interestingly, the third and final familiarization route for the 787 is, surprisingly, Kahulu – Los Angeles. These flights begin on May 15 with no set end date and will operate as follows:
- HA34: Kahului – Los Angeles, departing at 12:25 pm HST, arriving at 8:30 pm PT
- HA33: Los Angeles – Kahului, departing at 8:00 am PT, arriving at 10:35 am PT
At around five hours, these routes don’t really make great use of the new Leihoku Suites. But, again, the purpose of these initial flights is for flight crews to get used to and shakedown their standard operating procedures on these planes and to get a feel for how they perform. Once this initial operating period is finished, though, I largely expect Hawaiian to put these birds into service on their Boston and New York routes, especially since they can experience seasonal capacity constraints. This will be the best use of these long-legged jets, at least for now.
Final Thoughts
It was four months ago that Hawaiian revealed their fantastic Dreamliner interiors to the world. Now, finally, Hawaiian announces initial 787 routes. And since we know where these first flights are going, how many of you are going to try to jump on the first one? Personally, I won’t, but I do look forward to seeing these beauties in our skies!