Hawaiian Airlines will finally start operating its brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliners on a route long enough so that the experience can be properly enjoyed.
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Hawaiian Airlines replaces A330 with 787 on JFK route
Hawaiian Airlines operates a daily flight between Honolulu (HNL) and New York (JFK), which is the carrier’s second longest route, after Boston (BOS). Up until now, that route has consistently been operated by an Airbus A330-200. However, that will soon be changing.
As reported by @IshrionA, between April 22 and August 20, 2025, Hawaiian Airlines will upgrade this route to the Boeing 787-9. The flight operates with the following schedule:
HA50 Honolulu to New York departing 3:35PM arriving 6:55AM (+1 day)
HA51 New York to Honolulu departing 9:05AM arriving 1:55PM
The 4,983-mile flight is blocked at 9hr20min eastbound and 10hr50min westbound. The carrier started 787 service as of April 2024, so it’s still a new aircraft type for the airline. Up until now, the aircraft has simply flown shorter hops from Honolulu, including to Los Angeles (LAX), Phoenix (PHX), and San Francisco (SFO).
Hawaiian currently has two 787s, so when the New York service gets upgraded, the only other route to have the 787 will be to Los Angeles. The airline should be getting a third 787 this spring.
Given the merger of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, I imagine that we may eventually see these 787s operating long haul routes out of Seattle, since Alaska is setting up a global hub there. However, when Alaska launches long haul flights from Seattle as of the spring of 2025, the company will initially fly A330s, and not 787s.
What the Hawaiian 787 upgrade means for passengers
What does the upgrade from the Airbus A330 to the Boeing 787 mean for Hawaiian Airlines passengers? Well, the 787 really represents a new era for the airline in terms of passenger comfort, so it’s a pretty significant difference. It’s nice to see the plane finally scheduled on a long haul flight, rather than just the relatively short hops between Hawaii and the West Coast.
While Hawaiian’s A330s have business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, the 787s have business class suites with doors, in a 1-2-1 configuration. So for those traveling up front, this aircraft swap will make a huge difference in terms of comfort. The airline offers the Adient Aerospace Ascent product, similar to the seat you’ll find on Qatar Airways’ 787-9s.
In economy, it’s perhaps not as consistently positive news. On the plus side, the 787 is a modern jet with a quiet cabin and pressurization that makes you feel like you’re closer to sea level. On the other hand, the 787 has seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, while many people love the 2-4-2 configuration on the A330 (which is ideal for couples traveling together).
There’s one other major difference. Hawaiian Airlines is in the process of introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi. However, as of now this is available on all A330s, but not on any 787s. The 787s should eventually get inflight connectivity, but there’s no timeline yet for that happening.
So on a 10+ hour daytime flight, not having Wi-Fi might be a major downside for some people.
Bottom line
Hawaiian Airlines has finally scheduled its Boeing 787 on a longer route. As of April 2025, the airline will begin flying the 787 between Honolulu and New York daily, representing the carrier’s longest 787 route to date. This is an exciting development, because up until now, the 787 has only been flying between Honolulu and the West Coast.
The business class suites will be much more beneficial on a flight of this length. Unfortunately the lack of Starlink Wi-Fi (for now) isn’t great news…
What do you make of Hawaiian Airlines flying the 787 Dreamliner to New York?
A minor note. HNL-ICN flights are longer than those to NYC. But you may have meant BOS and NYC are the longest US* flights
@ CJ -- I might be missing something, but HNL-ICN covers 4,577 miles, while HNL-JFK covers 4,983 miles.
It's probably the flight time due to strong headwinds and jet stream over the Pacific during this time of year.
Given this is a leisure route, the 2-2-2 layout in the A330 isn’t bad for most people.
As for economy, I actively avoid the 787 at all costs, free WiFi or not. Generally speaking, I’m either upgrading or not flying on the 787 (that goes for the 10 across 777 too). I’m out of BOS, and if Hawaiian brings the 787 there, I’d rather take Delta’s A330. Either that bring on a proper PE cabin.
Last time I flew JFK to HNL was on a business trip, so it's not all leisure
This is a nice upgrade - but I would love to see them fly the 787 from HNL to LHR :)
Completely agree with you about economy. 9 across 787 and 10 across 777 are the two configurations I actively avoid (also out of BOS, btw). At least we still have JAL 787 with 2-4-2 economy (and a couple of inches extra legroom). Don't know if there are any 3-3-3 777s left.
A premium economy product would be nice. Especially if it's 2-3-2 on the 787 and A330s.
And to answer your question regarding who still has 9-abreast 777s:
-EVA has a subfleet of them (will be replaced by A35Ks)
-SQ (will be replaced by 10-abreast 779s)
-Garuda
-Thai
-JAL (on their way out in favor of the A35Ks) (they even had 3-4-2 772ERs)
-Korean, Asiana (who knows how they'll reconfigure them)
A premium economy product would be nice. Especially if it's 2-3-2 on the 787 and A330s.
And to answer your question regarding who still has 9-abreast 777s:
-EVA has a subfleet of them (will be replaced by A35Ks)
-SQ (will be replaced by 10-abreast 779s)
-Garuda
-Thai
-JAL (on their way out in favor of the A35Ks) (they even had 3-4-2 772ERs)
-Korean, Asiana (who knows how they'll reconfigure them)
-The mainland Chinese carriers
-Biman (surprisingly)
That's all I got for now, but those would be the major carriers that have 9-abreast 777s
What happens after August 20?
JFK certainly makes sense as it’s a high yield, flagship route. But I wonder if AS/HA’s choice to use their dated A330s instead of the 787s for the SEA long haul launch may hurt them in the long-term.
They will not be able to update their business class cabin for a decent amount of time and it’s hard to shake bad first impressions. Many travelers, especially premium and business travelers do indeed make decisions on...
JFK certainly makes sense as it’s a high yield, flagship route. But I wonder if AS/HA’s choice to use their dated A330s instead of the 787s for the SEA long haul launch may hurt them in the long-term.
They will not be able to update their business class cabin for a decent amount of time and it’s hard to shake bad first impressions. Many travelers, especially premium and business travelers do indeed make decisions on which carrier to fly because of hard product, especially when it’s inferior hard product like 2-2-2 without direct aisle access. Given that AS/HA is still US point of sale focused, the closest analogy I can draw is US travelers preferring UA metal because of how LH is still flying majority 2-2-2 without outdated seats, meanwhile UA has a proper Polaris config for all of their international longhaul widebodies.
AS/HA certainly have quite the uphill battle, especially as they now functionally serve as direct competitors to JAL, one of the world’s best airlines.
HA 330 are 1-2-1? Or rather 2-2-2
@ Peter -- Whoops, fixed, thank you!