Hawaiian Airlines plans to start nonstop service from Honolulu to China beginning next year and will eliminate service to Manila over the summer.
The airline said Wednesday that the flights from Honolulu to Beijing are expected to start on April 16, 2014, pending U.S. and Chinese regulatory approval.
The new service is expected to run three times a week.
This would be Hawaiian Airlines’ 10th new international destination since November 2010.
The new service is expected to produce $81 million in annual visitor spending and $8.47 million in tax revenue for Hawaii, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
"A scheduled flight between China and Hawaii has long been an aspiration of Hawaiian and the travel industry in our state, and as the barriers to visitor travel from China to the United States slowly come down, we believe there will be significant demand," said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian CEO.
Mike McCartney, president of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, welcomed the news.
"This new nonstop service will help to significantly grow visitor arrivals and expenditures from our highest spending visitor market," McCartney said. "The China market continues to grow year-over-year, and we anticipate further growth in 2013."
HTA expects arrivals from China to increase 25 percent this year to 144,910 visitors and expenditures to jump 27 percent to $348 million.
Hawaiian Airlines said it is discontinuing nonstop service to Manila due to underperformance. Chief Commercial Officer Peter Ingram said in a statement that high fuel prices and low fares hurt the route.
Flights to Manila, which began in April 2008, were running four times a week. The final flight from Honolulu to Manila will be on July 31.
The company said that its reservations department will make arrangements with other airlines serving Manila to accommodate passengers with flights scheduled to Manila after Aug. 1.
Hawaiian Airlines is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings Inc. Its new service between Honolulu and Taipei, Taiwan, starts on July 9. It also offers nonstop service to Hawaii from 11 U.S. cities and has service from Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, and Tahiti. The company provides about 160 daily flights between the Hawaiian islands.
Shares of Hawaiian Holdings finished at $5.36 on Tuesday. They have traded in a 52-week range of $4.92 to $7.30 per share.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
