Hawaiian Airlines will pause its Honolulu to Auckland service in April next year and resume in November having made a decision to reduce the year round schedule.

Both the trade and consumers have quickly responded to the relaunch of services between Auckland and Honolulu, with the first Hawaiian Airlines flight out of AKL on Monday night full and a major agents’ initative coming up seeing big demand.

Darragh Walshe, of Hawai’i Tourism in New Zealand, says the Aloha Downunder event scheduled for 29 August in Auckland is ‘basically sold out’.

Hawaiian Airlines remains keen to return to New Zealand and Australia, but accepts that they may be two of the last international markets to open up, this week’s CAPA Live webinar event heard.

HA’s chief executive Peter Ingram points out that the airline has been flying to Japan and Korea from Hawaii ‘to a certain degree’ for several months.

‘That started with all-cargo flights, with enough demand to justify the costs of operating and allowed us, as the pre-travel testing regime has come into place in Hawaii, to open up to passenger demand with a low hurdle for what incremental costs we need to cover that.’

It may have been a ‘slimmed down’ version of Xmas celebrations (with a cash bar at happy hour prices) but the Hawaiian Airlines Mele Kalikimaka and Thanksgiving Drinks pulled a big crowd of present and past travel industry peeps eager to catch up. There were pizzas on the tables at Wynyard Pavilion Bar’s garden bar and plenty of conversation around bubbles (not the liquid kind), borders and bringing on a New Year.

• David Libeau, formerly Helloworld (getting... David Libeau, formerly Helloworld (getting...
• Cathy Gibson, formerly Air Canada;... Cathy Gibson, formerly Air Canada;...
• Rudi Bosman, Travel-Lab NZ; Chris... Rudi Bosman, Travel-Lab NZ; Chris...
• Will Ashcroft, Cover-More Travel Insurance;... Will Ashcroft, Cover-More Travel Insurance;...
• Carol Morgan, Voyage Affairs and... Carol Morgan, Voyage Affairs and...
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Hawaiian Airlines has unveiled an updated brand identity and the freshly painted livery of a Boeing 717, the first of its fleet of more than 50 aircraft that will feature the new design.
The new livery retains Hawaiian’s distinctive colour palette of purple, fuchsia and coral, and the carrier’s icon, Pualani (flower of the sky), still features on the tail of the aircraft, while the female icon will feature more prominently.
In addition to the refreshed livery, the new logo will feature on web and digital assets, airport lobby signage and kiosks, and at boarding gates.