The Future of the Hawaiian Air Brand

Last updated on December 26th, 2024 at 11:06 am

Despite Alaska Air’s promise to preserve the Hawaiian Airlines brand, there has been a lot of people saying that Hawaiian will go away. Well, Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci recently outlined his plans for the future of the Hawaiian Air brand, and it’s the simplest explanation you could think of. 

In an exclusive interview with The Air Show, which is a podcast I recommend anyone in community listen to (along with the one I co-host – Da Kine Travel Show), Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci gave the trio unbridled access to talk about the changes that were ultimately discussed by the airline that same day at their Investor Day meeting. However, the interview gave us more nuance to the larger talking points AAG released publicly. Of particular interest to me was his take on the future of the Hawaiian Air brand. And, while expected Alaska Air to keep its word, I didn’t expect them to double-down the way they are. 

The Future of the Hawaiian Air Brand

To me, this was the biggest question mark once Alaska Air announced that they’d be preserving the Hawaiian Airlines brand. How are they going to operate two distinct airlines with some overlapping service, and as they pursue their global ambitions. Well, in the simplest way possible. Anything that touches or operates wholly within Hawai’i will be Hawaiian Airlines. This means that, yes, at some point in the future, Alaska Airlines-branded flights will cease operating to and from the islands. 

Naturally, Minicucci says that “there probably will be” a Boeing 737 with Pualani on it. Moreover, he says that they will be moving metal around, and decisions around that will be made pretty quickly. Of course, we won’t likely see any of this until they can obtain their single operating certificate, which should occur sometime late next year or in early 2026. 

Now, there’s no denying that seeing Pualani on a 737 is going to be very ironic. After all, Hawaiian would never have ordered the Boeing 737 because that’s the aircraft that their longtime competitor Aloha Airlines used to operate, similarly to how Aloha Air would never have operated Boeing 717s, MD-80s, or DC-9s. 

Fleet Plans

When discussing the future of the Hawaiian Air brand, we can’t do so without talking about the aircraft of each of these brands. I touched on this above, which is that Hawaiian will likely receive Boeing 737s. However, there are more aircraft to discuss – especially when it comes to Hawaiian’s fleet. 

First, as we already know, the Airbus A330 will continue to fly international and domestically. In fact, it’ll fly more domestically, including wholly within North America, which I’ll touch on more in a future post. 

That said, in the same podcast Minicucci talked about the capabilities of the Airbus A321neo. One specific example he mentioned is that it can do things that the Boeing 737 MAX can’t, such as fly HNL-LAS year round. Wait up. Did he just preview the fact that they plan on pulling some of the A330s from Las Vegas service and replacing them with A321neos? That’ll certainly explain how they’ll make these extra A330s appear out of thin air. But, I also don’t see how that’ll work, as this is one of Hawaiian’s busiest routes. 

The new doesn’t get much better when it comes to Hawaiian’s new Boeing 787-9s, either. Minicucci says that in three years time, AAG will have 12 of the Dreamliners in its fleet. And when that happens, they envision the aircraft becoming the group’s flagship aircraft for international flying out of Seattle. That’s right. Though we don’t have concrete confirmation, it would appear that the 787s are not for long in Hawaiian’s fleet, as they’ll all become Alaska Air aircraft. That’s hugely disappointing given how gorgeous Hawaiian’s Dreamliners are inside and out. 

Of course, the one questions around fleets as we go over the future of the Hawaiian Air brand that remains unanswered is what will replace the Boeing 717. Minicucci says they don’t know of a suitable aircraft yet, and that he thinks the 717 is one of those planes that will likely live on forever. I told you all it would be difficult to replace!

The Future of the Hawaiian Air Brand, Final Thoughts

As I’ve long believed, the future of the Hawaiian Air brand is sound. More than that, it’s one of growth. However, I’m disappointed that Hawaiian’s new flagship won’t be sticking around with the airline all that long. That’s also kind of puzzling since it would be perfect to operate its East Coast routes. And, sure, these statements aren’t concrete, but if you want to and haven’t flown on a Hawaiian 787 yet, I’d suggest doing so sooner than later.