Next Route For Hawaiian Airlines' Airbus A330s

Right now, Hawaiian Airlines sends their Airbus A330s to these destinations: (If I forgot to list any, let me know)
Los Angeles
San Francisco
New York (most recently)
San Diego (most recently)
Las Vegas
Tokyo
Auckland (Starting in March 2013)

Which of the following destinations below would Hawaiian Airlines send their A330 to next?
Seattle
Portland
San Jose
Oakland
Sacremento
Phoenix

I’ll answer the question with a question, then give my answer. How are HAL’s A330s configured, seat-wise, versus their B767s?

BL.

3 rows of Business (18 seats) the rest cheap seats (276 total)

Seattle’s the biggest market left but has the most competition so they might have trouble filling the extra seats if AS and DL respond aggressively.

Probably PHX or OAK - the SFO/OAK market can probably absorb the extra seats the best.

SJC is possible. I don’t know how well HA does there, but their only competition there is AS and they would have much lower CASM, meaning that they could survive any fare tactic AS might try to throw at them.

Thanks. It would almost be an even push, with fuel efficiency being the tale of the tape.

With that, I’m tempted to say ‘none of the above’ on the next A330 destination. Instead, I’d opt for YSSY.

BL.

I don’t think you need to “answer the question with a question, then give my answer.”. All you need to do is search the answer yourself, and then answer the question. Not hard…

My answer would have been the same answer you just gave! Took the words right out of my mouth! :smiley: But I think SEA would have a higher chance of getting the HA A330 next. If Alaska and Delta were to respond to that, I think Alaska would use their Boeing 737-900ERs, and Delta may respond by either using their Airbus A330-200, Boeing 767-300ER, -400ER, or possibly, their 777-200ER. But it’s just a guess. Highly doubt they’d use their A332 or B772s though. Even if DL would do that, HA would still be carrying more people because of their seating config.

All I wanted to do was provide rationale for my answer. Also, I did not have the time to thoroughly research every single configuration HAL may have on their B767s in the time I had. So apologies for wanting the question answered so you wouldn’t have to spend the second post of your time here at this forum chastising me. :unamused:

Either way, I answered the OP’s question. I’ll even go a step further and see if ASA has the market cornered on PANC service. If not, a possible run with an A330 or even a B763 up to there may be an option.

BL.

Maybe O’Hare and go against UAL and AA. Generate more traffic to Hawaii. Maybe a mini price war.

AA already dropped HNL-ORD because of the competition from UA. I doubt HA would do much better with zero feed.

You forgot Seoul…

If I was the driver…

My suggestion would be HKG or TPE, SIN, BKK, SGN these regional hubs would fill upon announcement as the transpacific routes are hard to come by for pax. There are no US carriers currently with direct flights to US soil from Vietnam, so the it would be a coup for the airline on a nonstop to HNL. On a direct flt they could extend the existing SEL service or fill the plane with a HKG stop.

They should be looking to extend into Asia where the population is on the move…

FYI…

Just came home last night on Hawaiian 30 and the captain mentioned that starting December there will be a larger aircraft operating this route!!! He mad the announcement prior to our descent into SEA