Hawaiian Airlines prepares for a future in the oneworld Alliance

EXCLUSIVE | It’s early days, but talks of a merger between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines are ongoing. There’s a lot for the two carriers to work through, including the necessary regulatory approvals. But with the two brands planning for a new joint loyalty program – and with Alaska Airlines already a oneworld Alliance member – it’s likely that a merger would see Hawaiian Airlines follow suit.

Hawaiian Airlines can gain a lot through oneworld membership. For instance, a global stable of international partner airlines all operate on an integrated platform. This means frequent flyers from around the world would be incentivised to fly with Hawaiian through perks like airport fast-track and lounge access.

How would that all work, though? Wouldn’t the influx of travellers overcrowd Hawaiian Airlines’ lounges? What about Hawaiian’s existing partnership with Virgin Australia, given oneworld membership would unlock ties with Qantas? To find out more, I catch up with Hawaiian Airlines’ Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Avi Mannis.

Alaska Airlines could bring Hawaiian into oneworld

It’s not common for an alliance to have multiple airlines members based in the same country. There are a few exceptions, sure. Star Alliance has both Air China and Shenzhen Airlines in China. SkyTeam has China Eastern as well as XiamenAir – and previously had China Southern as well, all based in Mainland China. But in the United States, oneworld already has two full member airlines: Alaska Airlines, plus one of oneworld’s founding carriers, American Airlines.

Even so, Hawaiian Airlines could become the third US-based member of oneworld. ‘That’s what Alaska has said the intent will be,’ Mannis shares. ‘Alaska has stated that their intent is to eventually end up with two distinct brands, but a single operating platform underneath it.’

‘We’re still in a review process, and so there’s time until the transaction closes. On the first day of the transaction, nothing really changes. We continue to operate as two separate airlines with the same ownership structure.’ But with the merger would come an all-new loyalty program shared between the two airlines.

‘A merged joint loyalty program will not (see) everyone moving from HawaiianMiles into Mileage Plan, but actually a new combined loyalty program. If we’re all part of one airline, that airline will be a part of oneworld. That could have material changes in terms of how we work with partners. But none of that is imminent.’

What would happen to Hawaiian Airlines’ Virgin Australia partnership?

Hawaiian Airlines and Virgin Australia have long been partners. But the tie-up has always been quite limited in scope. Members can earn and burn points between the carriers’ frequent flyer programs: booking Hawaiian Airlines flights using Velocity Points, for instance. But perks like reciprocal priority check-in and lounge access haven’t eventuated.

Given oneworld membership would see Hawaiian Airlines gaining a partnership with Qantas, what does that mean for Virgin Australia? ‘We still value our partnership with Virgin Australia,’ says Mannis. ‘I hope people will continue to earn and redeem Velocity Points with us. The partnership with Virgin Australia continues to be strong, and our relationship with Velocity here.’

However, Hawaiian has recently migrated its reservation system to Amadeus. While not necessarily the driving factor, Amadeus is nonetheless the ‘native’ Global Distribution System (GDS) used by more than half of oneworld’s members. For example, Qantas, British Airways, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, SriLankan Airlines… the list goes on.

‘Amadeus has made it a lot easier to do some things,’ Mannis says, speaking generally of IT links with other airlines. But when asked about the previously planned expansion of ties with Velocity, ‘because of the proposed merger, we have probably not been moving on as many new partnerships as we might otherwise have done.’

Even so, if the merger with Alaska goes ahead, ‘nothing will change right away. There’s still a fair amount of time.’ Membership in oneworld also wouldn’t necessarily bring an end to the partnership with Virgin Australia. Under oneworld Alliance rules, member airlines can have ties with carriers outside of the Alliance.

For example, Qantas maintains a strong partnership with non-member Emirates, despite oneworld’s Qatar Airways also being from the region. In turn, Qatar Airways has its own close partnership with Virgin Australia despite Qantas being a oneworld partner.

How would Hawaiian’s lounges cope with more passengers?

A key benefit of oneworld is airport lounge access between carriers. If Hawaiian Airlines did join the oneworld Alliance, eligible Qantas passengers could access Hawaiian’s lounges in Honolulu, for instance.

Even before talks of an Alaska Airlines merger, Hawaiian Airlines was looking to expand its lounge capacity. But how does the potential oneworld move feed into those goals?

‘It’s too early,’ Mannis shares. ‘We’re still a separate entity, we still compete vigorously with Alaska and other airlines.’ But even so, ‘we’re building out what we think is the right lounge footprint for the long term. I do think our plan includes additional capacity at Honolulu that would also be valuable to the combined entity.’

Speaking of competition, Hawaiian Airlines and oneworld member Qantas both operate flights between Sydney and Honolulu. Mannis acknowledges, ‘that situation exists in lots of markets around the world. I think when the time comes, we will figure out as a combined entity (Hawaiian and Alaska) how to manage that.’

As for Sydney – currently served by Hawaiian’s Airbus A330s – ‘I do think there are a lot of characteristics of (our) Boeing 787 that would make it a good fit for this market. I don’t know when in our schedule of deployment that will take place, but I do think there’s a strong prospect of seeing that larger aircraft with a larger premium product in this market at some point.’

‘Demand from Sydney has been good. It’s been robust since the pandemic. Clearly, exchange rates are a little bit of a drag on the potential for that market, but we’re seeing strong performance overall.’

Back on the ground, in terms of lounges, ‘it’s something that we are continuing to make investment in. We have a new lounge under construction in Maui. It’ll be more along the level of our existing lounges, but just expanded capacity and obviously a nice, refreshed space.’

‘We are continuing to work on a new lounge for our hub,’ Mannis tips of Honolulu. But ‘we have nothing ready to announce’… yet. Watch this space.

Also read: Hawaiian Airlines’ premium push is taking off

Imagery courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines.

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