Ends flight August 1
April 11, 2013
After intense fare wars with Philippine Airlines (PAL), Hawaiian Airlines (HAL) said today that it will stop flying to Manila effective August 1, 2013 due to poor sales.
"High fuel prices and low fares have plagued this particular route and while we have made several efforts to improve the economic performance of our Manila service, including adjusting our flight schedule to optimize connections and upgrading to newer A330 aircraft, we've concluded that the route will not be a commercial success," explained Peter Ingram, Hawaiian's chief commercial officer.
"I wished we were able to sustain the nonstop service but unfortunately we can't do it based on economic reality," said Ingram.
Hawaiian Airlines flight HA 455 will make its final trip from Honolulu to Manila on July 31, and HA 456 will make its final return from Manila to Honolulu on Aug. 1, 2013. The service, which operates four times per week, was inaugurated in April 2008.
"If you flew on our Manila flights, you might be surprised because people will say gosh, the flights are pretty full. The load factors weren't the challenge on this route, it was persistently low fares," Ingram added.
Hawaiian Airlines flight HA 455 will make its final trip from Honolulu to Manila on July 31, and HA 456 will make its final return from Manila to Honolulu on Aug. 1, 2013. The service, which operates four times per week, was inaugurated in April 2008.
"If you flew on our Manila flights, you might be surprised because people will say gosh, the flights are pretty full. The load factors weren't the challenge on this route, it was persistently low fares," Ingram added.
Hawaiian will continue to accept reservations for travel prior to the discontinuation date, provided all travel is completed by Aug. 1, 2013. It's not clear whether Hawaiian entered code share agreements with PAL after August 1.
The airline said that it's reservations department will make arrangements with other airlines serving Manila to accommodate customers who have ticketed reservations after August 1, and will be contacting affected passengers with new accommodations.
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines intend to do 5 times weekly services to Honolulu effective August 1 using A330 aircraft. The airline recently said that they are finalizing deals with aircraft lessors for four new aircraft for immediate deployment to Hawaii, Australia, and Japan. PAL flies Hawaii three times a week using A340 aircraft.
Filipino-Americans are the largest ethnic minority group in Hawaii with nearly 200,000 local residents. Many have close family ties in the Philippines and are frequent travelers there. Most passengers have inter-island connections, majority of whom hails from Ilocos region to which PAL passengers connects easily due to its early morning arrival banks while HAL arrives late in the afternoon with few or no domestic connections immediately upon arrival to most Philippine destinations.
The airline said that it's reservations department will make arrangements with other airlines serving Manila to accommodate customers who have ticketed reservations after August 1, and will be contacting affected passengers with new accommodations.
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines intend to do 5 times weekly services to Honolulu effective August 1 using A330 aircraft. The airline recently said that they are finalizing deals with aircraft lessors for four new aircraft for immediate deployment to Hawaii, Australia, and Japan. PAL flies Hawaii three times a week using A340 aircraft.
Filipino-Americans are the largest ethnic minority group in Hawaii with nearly 200,000 local residents. Many have close family ties in the Philippines and are frequent travelers there. Most passengers have inter-island connections, majority of whom hails from Ilocos region to which PAL passengers connects easily due to its early morning arrival banks while HAL arrives late in the afternoon with few or no domestic connections immediately upon arrival to most Philippine destinations.
