Hawaiian Airlines adds SKorea route as part of its strategic plan to expand service from Asia

Hawaiian Airlines adds SKorea route

HONOLULU — Hawaiian Airlines Inc. said Wednesday it is launching service to South Korea as part of its ambitious expansion into Asia and to cash in on the fast-growing number of Korean visitors to the islands.

Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said service between Honolulu and Korea’s main airport of Incheon will start in January 2011 with flights four times a week. Tickets will go on sale later this summer.

“This is for us the next step in our strategic endeavor to make Asia an important source of traffic for Hawaiian Airlines,” Dunkerley said in an interview before the company made its formal annoucement.

He said Incheon will a key hub for Hawaiian because of its accessibility and proximity to other nations including China.

Hawaii’s largest carrier could soon be serving both Japan and Korea for the first time as it evolves from an interisland and West Coast carrier to an international player.

Last month, Hawaiian received tentative approval from the Department of Transportation to receive one of four new routes to Tokyo Haneda airport, which has been off-limits to U.S. carriers since 1978. Hawaiian beat out much-larger competitors for the prized route, including Continental Airlines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines.

“We are at the point now where we’re getting a footprint in the most important countries for travel between Asia and Hawaii. So this represents far more than another route announcement,” Dunkerley said. “This is the moment at which we are adding another leg to what we do.”

Dunkerley wouldn’t disclose what other routes Hawaiian is considering, but the state has been making a strong marketing push for the Chinese.

Korean Airlines, which has a code-share agreement with Hawaiian, is the only carrier that currently provides direct service between Honolulu and Incheon. Due to strong demand, Korean Air on June 12 added three weekly flights, or 780 seats, giving it a total of 10 flights a week.

Hawaii has benefited from a program that began in November 2008 that allows Koreans to enter the United States without visas. Hawaii welcomed 20,211 Koreans in the first three months of this year, a 91 percent increase over the same period last year. On average, Koreans spent about $238 a day per person, about $100 more than a visitor from the West Coast.

The state predicts 74,000 Koreans will visit this year, nearly double the 38,110 visitors in 2008, before the visa waiver program.

Hawaii tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said the new route and additional airlift from Korea is “huge” for the visitor industry and economy.

“The potential is just ready to explode,” she said. “The visa waiver was the first thing, the additional air seats is the second thing and an improving economy is the third. All the ducks are in a row.”

Hawaii Tourism Authority CEO Mike McCartney estimates the new route will generate $19.4 million annually in visitor spending.

In April, Hawaiian took delivery of the first of as many as 27 new 294-seat Airbus widebody aircraft to replace its fleet of Boeing jets to make the longer Asian routes possible. It also has recently added routes between Hawaii and California.

The company’s expansion comes just five years after it emerged from bankruptcy protection and while the rest of the industry has been shaken by mergers, restructuring and heavy cuts to staff and routes. It also comes amid a tourism slump caused by global economic problems.

But Hawaiian is bullish on Asia and is putting a huge bet on Hawaii as a world-class destination.

“We calibrated our expansion at a rate where we balance our enthusiasm for the opportunity with the common sense of not expanding so quickly as to create insurmountable problems later on,” Dunkerley said.

He said because Hawaiian has been profitable the past two years, it allowed the company to focus on its long-term goals and investment instead of survival.

While the carrier has consistently been rated among the nation’s top airlines for service and on-time performance, it will soon be facing stiff competition from its Asian counterparts whose customer service is widely known.

“As we come to compete head-to-head with Asian carriers, we’re going to have to focus our product offering on the expectations of our customer that originate in parts of Asia and are used to traveling on Asian airlines,” Dunkerley said. “That of course is a challenge, and I’m looking forward to it because I think our employees and airline is up to the task.”

Online:

www.hawaiianair.com/