Hawaiian Airlines is transforming itself from leisure to luxe in terms of its premium cabin product with a new business class seat set to debut on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.
Hawaiian Airlines Unveils Adient Aerospace Ascent Business Class Seat For Boeing 787 Dreamliner
This November, Hawaiian Airlines will begin taking delivery of its Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The Honolulu-based carrier has ordered 12 Dreamliners, with delivery staggered over the next five years. The aircraft will enter service early next year and will eventually become the flagship longhaul aircraft of the fleet.
We’ve known for some time that Hawaiian chose the Adient Aerospace Ascent for business class (American Airlines eventually will too), but for the first time Hawaiian has unveiled cabin renderings and I must say the business class cabin looks quite nice. The business class cabin will feature 34 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.
I’ve flown this seat on Qatar Airways before and found it quite comfortable: with the right bedding, this seat will be well-loved by both solo travelers and couples traveling together (all seats have doors and in the center section, a partition can be lowered to create what Hawaiian calls “a living room” experience).
> Read More: Qatar Airways 787-9 Business Class Review
Hawaiian calls its new cabin Leihōkū, which means garland of stars.
Questionable Choices Onboard?
As lovely as I find this new cabin, Zach Griff notes that economy class passengers may be in for a less satisfying experience. This new aircraft will lack:
- Power outlets in economy class (extra-legroom economy class seats will feature outlets)
- Wi-Fi onboard (eventually, Hawaiian will use Starlink, but that may take a year to install)
- Bluetooth IFE connectivity (seems like a missed opportunity in 2023)
- Premium economy (Hawaiian does not see a market for it beyond a row or two, which is not economically feasible)
However, the aircraft will also offer other unique design elements like a night sky, Hawaiian-themed lavatory signs, and the use of Hawaiian-style woodgrain in the plane’s entryway. Furthermore, there will be mood lighting on display throughout the cabin.
CONCLUSION
The new Hawaiian Airlines Leihōkū business class cabin appears stunning in a series of new renderings. Its business class suite will debut early next year and over time become the backbone of the longhaul fleet.
Will the new Leihoku suite make you more likely to fly Hawaiian Airlines business class?
image: Hawaiian Airlines
It’s a competitive hard product and will make things interesting for flights to Hawaii now.
The new seats look great and are much-needed, but Hawaiian still has lousy catering (especially wine) and horrible lounges. Their flagship business lounge at HNL is absolutely horrible.
I always thought JetBlue, Alaska and Hawaiian should have merged or formed an extensive alliance.
“I always thought JetBlue, Alaska and Hawaiian should have merged or formed an extensive alliance”
That would make for a great west coast focused network
Don’t see a need for premium economy? Are they drunk? Have they not seen how UA sells out the cabin on Hawaii flights?
United’s premium economy section is too small
agreed!
Which is even more reason to ask if HA is drunk. Only demand for 1 or 2 rows of O?
They are either drunk or hit the bog a few too many times
Major miss here by not offering a premium economy product…(not to mention the other amenities also missing which you mentioned). Seeing as how premium economy was essentially developed specifically FOR passengers who are willing to pay extra for a better product on a leisure route, but not necessarily Biz, this just seems counterintuitive to their entire business model and client demographic.
There is absolutely a market for passengers who are facing an 11 hour leg JFK-HNL and are willing to pay for that upgrade, either at the time of booking or even last minute. This was a mistake.
Otherwise, J looks excellent and a major step up from their A330.
I don’t know anything about the routes flown by Hawaiian, but pricing premium economy cabins must be a complete nightmare for airlines. I am always on the lookout for business class offers, and they do come about reasonably frequently. On the other hand, there are dates and routes for which J fares are insane. Premium economy seems to be priced within a much narrower range, meaning that, unless you have to travel where/when the business fares are insane, the saving is rarely worth the cost and inconvenience of taking a positioning flight and/or enduring a short haul connection in regular economy. Flying from Europe it’s basically a few SAS offers to the likes of MIA and SFO and the odd Lufthansa deal to DXB which probably isn’t a better experience than Y on TK (IST being about halfway between Western Europe and the UAE). For everything else, similar or cheaper prices can be found in J, as long as you have a bit of flexibility.
Where do you think they are targeting with the longer distance capability? Singapore? Hong Kong? EU? Dubai? Perth?
I think it will continue to target Asia, Australia, and more US cities – I don’t see any Europe or Middle East flights coming.
I’ve flown HAs current business product a few times and was disappointed (had better experience on UAs Hawaii flights) but this looks like a big upgrade and long overdue. Not sure I’ll fly it again until they fix their customer support though – I’ve had very lackluster experiences with that.
So in summary, Hawaian will offer something tolerable in business class but no connectivity and the usual awful experience in economy on the 787 which goes with the plane. I bet economy passengers are wishing Hawaian has ordered the A330 neo rather than this crate.
Are they atleast offering USB outlets in Economy?!