Last week marked a major milestone in Alaska Air’s bid to become a global airline – the announcement of its first European destination. However, this news also signals that the end is approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners. So, to me, and I’m sure many of you reading this, this development is bittersweet.
Before I get to the sad news, let’s cover the new route info. As mentioned, Alaska Air will begin service to Europe next year, with its first route being Seattle to Rome, Italy. This new flight will go on sale this fall, with service commencing on May 11, 2026. The four times weekly service will operate as follows:
- Seattle – Rome: departs Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 6:00 pm PT, and arrives at 1:45 pm CT the following day
- Rome – Seattle: departs Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 3:45 pm CT, and arrives on the same day at 6 pm PT
Cranky Flier anticipates the route will be a seasonal one running through late summer or early autumn. However, no end date has been provided yet, and the route could very well operate year-round. That said, this route is primarily focused on the leisure market, which is why it may ultimately become a seasonal one. I won’t go into the details of why this city pair makes sense. If you’d like to learn more, I encourage you to check out Cranky’s excellent post.
In their announcement, Alaska Air notes that this route “will be served on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operated by Alaska Airlines, featuring a new global experience.”
Just what the hell do they mean by that? Well…
The End is Approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners
On their dedicated Rome page, Alaska Air notes that:
The route will be served by our state-of-the-art Boeing 787 aircraft, redefining comfort with dimmable windows and entertainment screens at every seat. Elevating the journey, our business class cabin offers 34 fully enclosed suites with lie-flat seating.
As you may recall, Hawaiian Air’s Boeing 787-9s also feature 34 Leihōkū Suites. That in itself doesn’t tell us that the end is approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners. It’s just that Alaska will either use Hawaiian Dreamliners as they are today, or will keep the current configuration and will rebrand the interior with different finishes. However, what I’ve recently learned from a Hawaiian employee is that the first five 787s will be delivered in Hawaiian’s livery. The rest will arrive with Chester taking Pualani’s place.
N782HA, Hawaiian’s third 787, was delivered earlier this year. N783HA is currently undergoing production flight testing in Charleston, indicating that its delivery is coming soon. Moreover, N784HA, currently known as line number 1268, is already in the production queue, though it has 18 frames ahead of it in the queue, not including an additional three for which parts are currently arriving and four others that are undergoing final assembly. If Boeing is able to maintain its goal of five 787s per month, that means we’re looking at the final Hawaiian Dreamliner being delivered at the end of 2025 or in early 2026.
No other Hawaiian 787s are on the schedule yet, which currently consists of 47 birds after N784HA. Assuming Boeing can hit its goal of seven frames per month by the end of this year, it will take until July 2026 to work through this existing backlog. So, assuming no airline with any of these upcoming production slots defers deliveries, the first Alaska-branded 787 won’t arrive in time for the launch of the new Rome route. Naturally, this means that passengers on these flights will be transported by a Hawaiian-branded aircraft, at least initially. It also means that one to two 787s will be “leaving” Hawaiian ops come next May, leaving just three with them. Maybe.
With Alaska’s goal of having 12 international destinations by 2030, it’s easy to see why the end is approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners. The seven on order that will arrive with Alaska branding won’t be enough to operate these flights. Heck, the 12 total firm orders Hawaiian has won’t suffice, either. To that end, at the same time Sprague told Hawaiian employees that the fifth 787 will be the last for them, he also announced that all Dreamliners will eventually be rebranded and fly under Alaska. Hawaiian will, unfortunately, not retain any of these beautiful birds. That, to me, is entirely heartbreaking and confirms my earlier fear.
Either way, prior to this announcement, you could kind of see that the end is approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners, as Alaska Air Group begins to shift its operations. You see, today, Hawaiian’s three 787s bounce between HNL and JFK (once daily) and HNL and LAX (twice daily). However, come August, one of those LAX frequencies will shift to SEA, followed by the other in September. Then, SEA-ICN moves to the 787 in September, too.
Final Thoughts
Again, I’m disappointed but not surprised that the end is approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners. I’ve been wanting to check them out, especially in business class. Alas, with my ability to travel nerfed (and not wanting to burn points just to fly), I doubt I’ll ever get that chance, especially with how quickly things are moving. Oh well! I suppose the silver lining is that the A330 has a better 2-4-2 layout in Main Cabin. At any rate, if you’ve been eyeing a flight on a 787 adorned with Pualani, and now that we know that the end is approaching for Hawaiian Dreamliners, you better get aboard one while you still have time.
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