More than three years after shutting down the route, Hawaiian Airlines this weekend celebrated the restart of three-times-weekly service between Honolulu and Fukuoka, Japan, with a festive gate-side celebration.
Hawaiian suspended the route in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fukuoka will become the fourth destination in Japan that Hawaiian currently serves, joining Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), Narita International Airport and Kansai International Airport.
Hawaiian is offering flights from Fukuoka to Honolulu on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flights from Honolulu to Fukuoka will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Hawaiian said it will operate its Japan routes with its 278-seat, wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft, featuring 18 premium cabin lie-flat leather seats, 68 of its extra-comfort seats and 192 main cabin seats.
Hawaiian marked Fukuoka service’s restart this weekend by treating departing guests in Honolulu and Fukuoka with music, lei and welcome gifts. Jon Snook, Hawaiian Airline’s executive vice president and chief operations officer, and Ed Sniffen, director for the state Department of Transportation, Airports Division, made remarks at the Honolulu relaunch.
The announcement followed the release Tuesday of Hawaiian Airlines first-quarter earnings. During that call Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Peter Ingram said, “We’ve seen some continued improvement in Japan point of sale, not back to the historical levels that we had, and certainly our capacity levels reflect that, but we are seeing some signs of improvement. And I think if we look over the last four to six weeks, we’ve seen some steady progress, not exceptional, but some steady progress in Japan point of sale. “
There have been a lot of starts and stops for Hawaiian’s service to Fukuoka. Hawaiian made its first
Honolulu flight to Fukuoka on April 16, 2012, then dropped service between the two cities in June 2014 due to low demand. Hawaiian restarted four-times
service in 2019, at that time bringing the carrier’s count of Japan gateways to five, including Osaka, Sapporo and Tokyo’s Haneda and Narita.
Fukuoka is the economic center of Kyushu, the southernmost major Japanese island. Hawaii has strong historical ties to Fukuoka dating back to 1885, when the first 149 immigrants arrived on the ship Yamashiromaru to work in Hawaii following King David Kalakaua’s signing of a treaty of reciprocity with Japan. About a century later, in 1981, Hawaii passed a resolution establishing a sister-state relationship with Fukuoka prefecture, the first one in Hawaii’s history.
