News Backgrounder
China slow to succumb to Hawaii’s charms
Mainland China’s air passengers are a priority target for most of the world’s airlines. But three years after it launched its flights to Beijing, Hawaiian Airlines is doing it hard in its bid to win over the country’s leisure travelers.
June 1st 2017
Hawaii may be one of the world’s best known island destinations; a place of palm trees, endless beaches and Polynesian music, but for the growing millions of Chinese hitting the international airways it is not top of their travel hit list, Hawaiian Airlines has discovered. Read More »
Despite three years of flying between Honolulu and Beijing, the carrier said China is still in the early stages of passenger brand recognition on the Mainland.Hawaiian serves Beijing-Honolulu three times week. Air China flies to Honolulu from Beijing and China Eastern from Shanghai.
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So, why the slow pick up? Speaking to Orient Aviation during a visit to Australia last month, Hawaiian Airlines chief commercial officer, Peter Ingram, said: “Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines are very well known in Australia and in Japan, where there is an incredible affinity for Hawaiian travel. But it is still relatively new in China.”
Additionally, the rapid growth in China’s outbound traffic has been more focused on short-haul destinations. Long-haul destinations have struggled to achieve the same growth. The majority of China’s international leisure travelers head for Thailand and Japan, the airline said.
An operating constraint is that Hawaiian’s long-haul fleet is fully committed so it cannot increase it China services until at least 2018. As well, the Zone 1 cities under the current bilateral air treaty between the U. S. and China: China - Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are fully allocated.
“We would love to improve our slot times in Beijing. We are not operating at the most convenient times for our guests. It’s a 2am departure and a 5am arrival,” he said.
However slow the pick-up for Hawaiian in China, the carrier is confident its investment will pay off. Chinese visitors to the island state have increased steadily since 2009: from 41,924 eight years ago to 161,375 in 2014 and 181,000 in 2015. Hawaiian tourism authorities forecast that number will be 360,000 by 2020.
For now, the carrier’s biggest Asian market is Japan. “Japan is the number one source of international visitors for Hawaii,” said Ingram. “We have introduced two Tokyo services in addition to the daily Haneda flight that began in 2010. Recently, we added a Narita service. We also have a second Haneda flight that is split four times a week to Honolulu and three times a week to Kona. We serve Osaka daily and Sapporo three times a week.”
The increase in frequencies to Tokyo means the fleet is fully utilized for the rest of the year. Hawaiian operates 23 A330-200s with another of the aircraft type to arrive at the airline this year.
The Airbus airliners are gradually replacing its B767s, which are down to eight from 14. The new A330s are being fitted with lie-flat beds in Business Class, a first for Hawaiian. Also on order are six A330neo from 2019.
“The next step for us fleet wise is incorporating our 16 on order A321neo into the fleet,” said Ingram.
The first delivery has been delayed from July to October, a result of issues with the production line of Pratt & Whitney engines. “Candidly it is a little fluid right now. But we have great confidence about the long-term success of this plane,” said Ingram. The arrival of the A321s will free up A330s now flying U.S. West Coast routes to service destinations in Australia and Asia.
Hawaiian’s first quarter profit to March 31, slipped 28% year-on-year, to $37 million, amid higher fuel and staff costs. Operating revenue for the period grew 11.4%, to $614 million, and costs increased by 20.4% to $546.9 million.
Hawaiian has a new livery, first revealed on one of its B717s last month. “It embodies a stronger, more contemporary representation of Hawaiian Airlines’ culture of service and hospitality,” the airline said.
