Over the weekend, Alaska Airlines announced it has purchased Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion agreement, claiming their complementary networks will provide a greater choice for passengers. According to a statement, the deal will unlock more destinations for consumers and expand the choice of critical air service options through the Pacific region, continental U.S. and globally.
Let’s take a look at some of the numbers behind this deal, and in particular the schedules and aircraft data.
Hawaiian Airlines was already the largest domestic carrier to Hawaii, with more than 22,000 flights a year (accurate as of December 3, 2023 – see figure 1) and over 5 million seats flown. Combining the seats flown and the number of flights of Hawaiian Airlines will place Alaska Airlines firmly in the top spot, with more than 40,000 flights annually and over 8.5 million seats flown.
For the month of September 2023, there were about 600,000 total passengers (525,000 economy class) from Continental US to Hawaii. The average one-way, non-directional economy fare was $321. Alaska and Hawaiian’s average economy fare for the route was slightly lower than the average, at $294 and $292 respectively but nevertheless quite close to each other.
Alaska is now an all-Boeing fleet (after their previous acquisition of Virgin America) with an average age of almost 16 years (see figure 2). This does not include 41 Embraer E175 operated by Horizon Air for Alaska. Hawaiian has a mixed fleet with an average age of around 10 years. Notably, Hawaiian has 12 Boeing 787-9 on order.
Alaska is regularly in the top 3 airlines in North America for operational performance, and often the top airline in the country. Take a look at our latest on-time performance report here.
The deal will undoubtedly provide more access and choice to travelers throughout the region and it will be interesting to see how the two brands integrate following the deal.
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