Why Don't European Carriers Fly To Hawaii?

On the surface, it’s a little strange isn’t it? One of the world's most well-connected international air travel markets, Europe, and one of the world's most premium leisure destinations, the US state of Hawaii, lack direct air connectivity. Nonetheless, according to published statistics from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, hundreds of thousands of European travelers visit the islands yearly, flocking to its sunny beaches and pleasant weather.

While these two destinations sit thousands of nautical miles apart, in-service commercial aircraft have the appropriate range to connect the island chain and the continent nonstop. Despite these capabilities, no European airlines currently fly from their hubs to Honolulu's Daniel K Inouye International Airport or any other facility on the islands.

For today’s video, let’s examine all the reasons why this is the case!

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[kevinbarry]

Not unusual for Hawaii, up until a few years ago there were no nonstop flights from New York to Hawaii

[flaneurnz]

For many Europeans, The alternative of Hawaii is the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands of Spain or the Greek Islands and Cyprus.

[ATC]

simple summary: it's too far away and costs a lot 😂

[dougwint]

Because it's a gazillion hour flight. Most people in Europe are flying economy as well. How many people want to sit in economy for 12 hrs to California and then another 5 hrs to Hawaii when they can get the same(or better) beaches on a 2-4 hr flight to Spain/Italy/Greece?

[thefreshmaker]

French companies fly from Paris to Papeete, Tahiti via Los Angeles or San Francisco. During the pandemic, Air Tahiti Nui had to operate some direct flights from Paris to Papeete because they couldn't transit anywhere.

[sasharenier]

I think a leisure-focused airline like Condor could attempt a FRA-HNL route sometime in the near future

[airplanefreak]

Lufthansa 2572 did this with an A340-600 as a charter flight from Munich to Honolulu that carried cruise passengers for a line named "MS Germany". It was 14:43 hours long at 6, 991 nautical miles.

[waynej]

It’s also why Qantas handed off flights to Honolulu to its low cost offshoot, Jetstar. Qantas do maintain a limited Sydney to Honolulu service, but that only exists for frequent flyers to burn points.

[tech]

Europeans have a lot of closer and cheaper warm weather destinations. Those Europeans who do go to Hawaii are usually combining it with visiting California or another North American destination.

[bobgraham]

I live in Hawaii and travel to Europe (London or Paris ) at least once a year. I can usually leave Honolulu at 7:00 AM on United and then get a late afternoon flight to London from San Francisco or LA also on United. Paris is a little more challenging, so leave HNL the night before, arrive in SFO early morning and then wait for the flight to Paris at about 2 pm.
Coming back to Hawaii has wait times in SFO of maybe two hours after non stops from either CDG or LHR.
The international flight are configured so much more comfortable than flights from Hawaii to the west coast.

[sundragon]

The obvious workaround is the carrier partnerships like Star Alliance and Oneworld. Partnerships economically discourage non-stop Europe-Hawaii routes. However, it may not be a win-win for the passenger.

[FlyingNL]

Europeans usually take a few days before flying to Hawaii, so they can stay a few days in Los Angeles and Las Vegas for example.

[shashanktrivedi]

My Columbus, OH based relative was telling me that his trip to Hawaii from his home will take 13 hours which includes changing flight at Phoenix, it took 15 hours of non stop flight for me to EWR from my country while my relative travel for similar amount of time within USA itself.

[DuckOfRubber]

While some Hawaiians might find direct flights useful, most European tourists I’ve met in Hawaii are visiting other places in the US too and would therefore at most buy a direct flight from Europe and then continue their trip with a flight to the US mainland, or arrive in Hawaii from the US mainland and then buy the direct flight home. So you basically need 2 passengers per round trip seat.

[thdayblue]

Thank you.
Once we watch your post, it confirms what we think, but you have a great way of explaining it on a global platform.

Thanks

[MattProud]

Back in 2015, there was speculation that Edelweiss (Switzerland) might add a route from Zürich to Hawai'i. That would have been nice, as part of our family lives on the islands, and we live in Zürich. Overall, flying to Hawai'i to see family there is extremely expensive as it is. Often times, the cost to fly to Hawai'i per passenger from the U.S. West Coast is 25–50% more expensive than the flight from Switzerland to the U.S. West Coast!

[Notmq]

It kinda sucks for the people of Hawaii and Europe since they can’t go nonstop to Europe/Hawaii

[heikozysk]

It's not so much the lack of business travellers as that it is also the case for many long-haul vacation destinations you can reach non-stop from Europe. Phuket/Thailand, the Maldives, Mauritius or the Carribean islands are all within the 10-12 hour flight time bracket. So Hawaii would also compete on many more items than just flight hours with those established destinations. One could be the costs of accomodation, rental cars, dining etc. in Hawaii - compared for example to Thailand. The Maldives are not exactly cheap but score high on being exclusive and remote. And so on.

[johnp]

Ultra long flights also require relief crews which is also expensive.

[CedefZ]

Simple Answer: There are no enough demands for BUSINESS CLASS traveller which makes up most of the profit for an airline.