Originally Posted by ShyGuy

So AS is comparable to SY or ALG while Hawaiian touches only the finest velve sheets of aviation Gods themselves? Hawaiian and Alaska are comparable when it comes to career destinations due to locality. You have one unique base, AS has 3/6 unique bases for a major passenger airline. Irrelevant to the argument.

Bottom line is since the pandemic, HNL just isn’t working. Asia travel has been trashed. The current admin is only making foreigners hate America and avoid vacationing here. The dollar-yen relationship has changed over time. And 4 fleet types across 1100 pilots plus a huge WB gamble for mainland U.S. flying has failed, considering the big 4 have moved away from larger WB and 757 airplanes to 320/737 family for flights to Hawaii.

Post pandemic, AS was just fine and would have made it long term - the same is not true for Hawaiian. Something had to give. This was probably the best outcome.


There’s a reason HNL 787 is closing and they are all going to be in SEA. And I love the 321Neo as much as the next guy, but the 321/717 are done for. They’ve literally said it as much.

And as has been mentioned other than the 3 lease purchase 330s, there are no further expected orders for the Airbus. The real question you should be asking is once this airline is just 787 and 737, will they re-open 787 HNL? I think that’s a scary thought. But the handful of intentional destinations out of HNL can easily be crewed by SEA 787 crews on 7-10 day trips with layovers in HNL.

This merger has always been about a certain somebody wanting to cement a legacy as the one who brought widebodies to SEA and made AS go international to Asia and Europe. Hawaiian was chosen for that purpose. Everything else is just fluff. Take it as a former Virgin guy, it’s nothing personal - just business. All the HNL folks have my sympathy. Changes are coming, and not the good kind.