Hawaiian Airlines To End The US’s Longest Domestic Route: Honolulu-Boston Flights Cut

Hawaiian Airlines will cease flying between Honolulu and Boston in November. It follows Delta pulling out in April and will mark the end of the US’s current longest domestic service. The development means Hawaiian’s frames will immediately only be seen at one East Coast airport: New York JFK.

The change was first identified by Ishrion Aviation on X and is confirmed by reference to the carrier’s booking engine. Separately, Hawaiian will also end flights from Honolulu to Fukuoka and Seoul Incheon. The carrier, which is immediately owned by the Alaska Air Group, has been contacted for comment.

Hawaiian To End Honolulu-Boston Flights

Hawaiian has served the route since April 2019. When writing, its last flight from Honolulu is scheduled to take place on November 19. While there are usually four flights a week, there are as many as five. All services are on the 278-seat Airbus A330-200, which is Hawaiian’s lowest-capacity widebody.

US Department of Transportation data for April 2024-March 2025 shows that 149,800 round-trip local passengers flew between Honolulu and Boston. That is equivalent to 410 passengers daily. Unsurprisingly, Hawaiian had the biggest chunk of the market (48%). When its flights end, it’ll aim to capture some of the traffic by flying passengers through Seattle with Alaska Airlines. Indeed, beyond financial performance or network contribution, this (along with freeing up aircraft for use elsewhere) may have driven the decision to cease what is a non-core operation.

The long route to Boston, which is the US’s tenth-busiest airport for widebody activity, covers 4,427 nautical miles (8,199 km) each way. According to OAG data, the maximum block time (at any point between immediately and November) is as high as 11h 25m. As a simple comparison, it is longer than Boston-Istanbul in distance and the maximum time.

It Is Not Surprising That It Is Pulling Out

The chart above provides load and total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) data from the US DOT. It is for 16 Hawaiian routes from Honolulu to airports in the Lower 48. Across them all, the average load was 87% and the average TRASM (including the airfare and ancillary revenue) was $0.113 US cents.

While Boston’s load (83%) was four points lower than the average, its TRASM ($0.088) was the lowest of all 16 routes. It was always going to be lower because of the longer distance. But it is particularly low due to revenue being insufficient for the long stage length. For example, despite covering 90% more distance than Honolulu-San Diego, Boston’s TRASM was just 28% higher. It was much lower-yielding and much more expensive to operate.

Notice Austin. Hawaiian served the Texas capital between April 2021 and March 2025. At 84%, its load was lower than the average across the 16 routes. It covered 44% more distance flights to San Diego, yet the TRASM was 22% lower. Could JFK be the next route to go? Or are Hawaiian’s flights there of strategic importance?

Delta Ended Flights In April 2025

Delta first served Boston-Honolulu in November 2024, but pulled out the following April. It did not even last a season. The service, which had four weekly flights to a daily operation, primarily used the A330-300 but occasionally the 767-300ER. The DOT indicates it flew 43,000 round-trip passengers but filled just 63% of the available seats. The load did not exceed 68%. No wonder it ended.

The SkyTeam member decided to simply funnel the local traffic through its multiple hubs instead. It flies to Honolulu from Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York JFK, Salt Lake City, and Seattle, with between eight and 13 departures a day.

Year Founded

1929

CEO

Ed Bastian