Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) is looking to expand its network to add more medium- and long-haul routes in the Pacific rim, mainland United States, and is evaluating services to Europe, Senior Vice-President (Revenue Management and Network Planning) Brent Overbeek said during the World Routes 2019 conference.

The carrier is planning to strengthen its presence in Japan - a key origin market for Hawaii tourism - thanks to its forthcoming partnership with JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda). Subject to regulatory approval, the two carriers hope to start implementing the joint venture in early 2020. Hawaiian has recently secured an additional slot to launch the third daily service to Tokyo Haneda and it hopes it will boost connectivity with JAL's domestic network.

Currently, Hawaiian operates 11x weekly from Haneda to Honolulu and 3x weekly to Kona, the ch-aviation schedules module shows. In Japan, the airline also serves Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo Narita, and Osaka Kansai. The airline's Asian network also includes Seoul Incheon.

Overbeek said that the airline was evaluating adding new destinations in the Pacific Rim, including more points in Japan and Australia. In Australia, Hawaiian Airlines currently serves Brisbane International and Sydney Kingsford Smith.

Another market which is interesting for the airline is the central mainland of the United States. Overbeek pointed out that currently, Hawaiian does not serve cities located between Phoenix Sky Harbor in the west, and New York JFK and Boston on the East Coast. Some of these markets could open up with the deliveries of more A321-200neo. Hawaiian Airlines already operates 14 of these narrowbodies and has a further four on firm order from Airbus.

So far, Hawaiian Airlines has used the A321neo primarily to connect Hawaii with the US West Coast, including some second-tier destinations with demand too thin for widebody services.

Overbeek also said that the airline will evaluate further network expansion once the deliveries of ten B787-9s start in 2021 (including five from Boeing and five from lessors). He said that even direct flights to Europe were not "off the table", although they were not a priority for the airline.

There are currently no direct services between Hawaii and Europe.