DL to add JFK-HNL winter/holiday seasonal flights

[WorldTraveler]

http://airlineroute.net/2014/03/24/dl-jfkhnl-dec14/
 
Another route that UA/CO has had for years from EWR and which HA has tried but apparently is weak

 

[AdAstraPerAspera]

Or, they could just throw money out the window...

 

[WorldTraveler]

you can make money to any sun destination from NYC on certain days of the year... the secret is to know when to start and when to stop. 

 

[eolesen]

Interesting addition.

Hawaii's traditionally a tough market from the east coast. Aside from being within the US, there's little difference between a high-end resort in the Caribbean, aside from the cost of services in Hawaii usually being higher. If you can get more for your money by going to the Dominican or Jamaica, why fly 12 hours further just to be within the US?

Trying to compare with UA's a difficult call. UA's got a much stronger presence in general for Hawaii originating traffic, and they also have the connections to the former Air Mike network going for them.

 

[737823]

I'm wondering how much longer Hawaiian will hang around.

Josh

 

[FWAAA]

Some of the Flyertalk crowd have asked when new AA would begin nonstops to HNL from JFK, PHL and CLT.   My WAG is "never" but perhaps for a two or three week period they'd make sense.
 
Seems like a few well-heeled Brits are willing to fly all the way to Hawai'i (but as eolesen pointed out, it ain't that special to warrant flying such a long trip from the East coast, let alone Britain).       DL's schedule appears to depart JFK too early in the morning to permit same-day connections from LHR.

 

[WorldTraveler]

DL is not appealing to the European crowd.  JFK is a big enough domestic hub that DL can connect traffic from the east coast.
 
Remember that at one time NW flew MSP and/or DTW to HNL.  The only real reason why DL doesn't do more eastern US - Hawaii flights is because it requires an int'l configured aircraft since DL doesn't have domestic configured ERs.  Flying to Hawaii from the US on a year round competes for an aircraft with Europe; Hawaii will never generate revenues as high as even seasonal routes to Europe do for several months a year.
 
DL can operate on select peak days using the smaller Business Elite cabin 763ERs when there aren't int'l opportunities available. 

 

[Kev3188]

Put me in the "why go to HNL when I can be in the Caribbean in ~3 hrs.?" crowd.
 
Maybe with it being Christmas break, it warrants a "big" vacation, but still...
 
As for DL, if they can cover the d.o.c.'s and keep an airframe moving, more power to 'em...

 

[WorldTraveler]

obviously there are people from the east coast that go to Hawaii.  Remember, DL is adding a relatively few days a year to a market that UA has served for years (starting with CO) and UA even added IAD-HNL.  HA jumped into the JFK-HNL market. 
The question is not whether there is a market; there clearly is. 
 
and, yes, flying an int'l aircraft when it has no better use does generate revenues and keep DL people busy. 

 

[700UW]

Its only for three weeks.

 

[Kev3188]

Less than that, actually, since it won;t run on 12/25, 12/25, or 12/31.

Interesting to see that on the list this AM nonetheless. Guess we'll see how it goes.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Its only for three weeks.

 
precisely... but it is likely the peak of peak winter days.
 
DL operated a number of NYC-Florida extra flights fewer times than that. 
 
and it still highlights that an effective competitive strategy can be to add flights during the peak of peak periods. Competitors like HA who have indicated the route isn't doing as well as they want might be impacted significantly by having another competitor on the days when they might have otherwise received their best revenue on the route.

 

[eolesen]

Remember that at one time NW flew MSP and/or DTW to HNL.  The only real reason why DL doesn't do more eastern US - Hawaii flights is because it requires an int'l configured aircraft since DL doesn't have domestic configured ERs.

Midwest to Hawaii is a different story for some reason I'll never understand. East coast folks like the Caribbean, and people west of the Appalachians and east of the Rockies seem to prefer Hawaii, and the west coast folks head to Mexico...

I suspect it's far less an issue of having an airframe than it is the trash yields. Maybe DL has an extra widebody sitting around due to maintenance rotations, and this is how they're chosing to soak up the time.

 

[WorldTraveler]

yes, there are regional vacation preferences but when everyone decides to leave NYC at the same time, there are no trash yields to anywhere.
 
again, UA/CO has flown NYC-HNL for years so I'm not sure there is much to be gained by arguing whether the market makes sense or not. 
 
DOT data shows that UA gets decent average fares but not as good as they do to Europe during the peak season. 
 
I do agree that the risk is relatively low just because of the relatively few days the flight will operate combined with the lack of any competing alternatives across the Atlantic. 

 

[Kev3188]

Midwest to Hawaii is a different story for some reason I'll never understand.

Lol.

That makes 2 of us.