Hawaiian Airlines Continues Expanding With Vegas-Maui Flights
Profit has been sinking at Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA) for the past couple of years thanks to rising competition, particularly for flights between the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii. Despite the subpar market conditions, Hawaiian Airlines is forging ahead with its plan to grow in the West Coast-Hawaii market using its new fleet of Airbus (OTC: EADSY) A321neos.
The Hawaii-based airline's next new route isn't exactly new: It plans to resume nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Kahului (on the island of Maui) in December, after a seven-year hiatus. This looks like an attractive place to expand, especially with Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) about to resume its growth trajectory in Hawaii.
As recently as two years ago, Hawaiian Airlines operated all of its flights between the mainland and Hawaii with wide-body jets equipped with more than 250 seats. While many travelers prefer wide-bodies for their roomy interiors -- and the planes have plenty of space for cargo -- it's hard to fill that many seats at reasonable fares. Furthermore, small wide-bodies tend to be more costly to operate on a per-seat basis than the largest narrow-body jets.
Source Fool.com
