Hawaiian’s Better Business Class at Heart of Future Plans

The airline hopes that the revamping of its business class cabins, along with demand for premium seats and its unique geographical location, will spur on global growth.

Last fall, Hawaiian Airlines unveiled its plans to upgrade the business class cabins of its Airbus A330s. The bespoke flatbed seats were at the heart of this redesign, but to Hawaiian, this refresh wasn’t just a new look; rather, it appears to be a springboard for future growth.

The carrier expects that, by the end of 2017, the premium cabin of every A330 across its fleet will boast 18 of these 76-inch seats.

While business class passengers between the West Coast and Hawaii may be the first to enjoy the retrofit, the airline has plans to deploy the aircraft featuring this cabin on long-haul routes to Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, Auckland and Brisbane.

Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s chief commercial officer, explained the careful calculation behind this move in an interview with Skift.

“As our network has evolved over the past four or five years, we have added a lot more of the eight and nine hour international flights,” he said.

“The expectation that our guests increasingly have on those routes is different from the expectations of our guests on a flight from the West Coast to Hawaii,” Ingram added.

Unlike other carriers, Hawaiian is able to sell most of its premium seats rather than giving them away to members of its frequent traveler programs. Ingram went on to explain that much of this demand comes from the international market as well as from certain cities within the network, especially San Francisco and LA.

Additionally, Ingram believes that Hawaii’s unique global location will allow it to efficiently feed passengers into the Pacific Rim region. Indeed, for those already heading to Australia or New Zealand from western feeder cities, a stopover in Honolulu wouldn’t be an issue.

“The nonstop from Sydney to San Francisco would fly right over the top of Hawaii anyway,” he explained.

While these plans are in the pipeline, Hawaiian is rounding out its current round of growth by increasing its frequency to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND) and adding a range of Airbus A321neos and A330s to its fleet.

[Photo: Hawaiian Airlines]