Originally Posted by
Kacee
ORD is not a fortress. It's a hub for AA and UA.
HA has multiple daily flights from OAK and SJC, all of which compete against UA's SFO hub for Hawaii traffic.
Again, HA does quite well in competition against UA. If they choose not to serve a market (e.g, IAH or ORD), it's not because they fear competition from UA.
The key for HA is sufficient local O/D demand to Hawaii. West Coast markets have a lot of local passengers traveling to Hawaii. The further east you go, the local traffic declines greatly.
HA has found a successful way to serve JFK (HUGE metro area with sufficient local demand to Hawaii, a codeshare agreement with B6, and the only nonstop to Hawaii out of JFK). Other markets are going to be more difficult.