Hawaiian Airlines suspending Beijing service due to low demand

Hawaiian Airlines, which expected great promise from China and spent about a decade trying to get the green light to initiate service, has suspended its only route there after about four years due to low demand.

The state’s largest carrier said Tuesday it will suspend its thrice-weekly nonstop service between Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport upon the completion of the National Day Golden Week holiday in October.

“These decisions are never easy and this one is especially difficult because we believe in China’s future as a robust market for the Hawaiian vacation experience and we will continue to market one-stop options to Honolulu from cities throughout China on our airline partners,’’ Hawaiian President and CEO Peter Ingram said in a statement.

Hawaiian, which started the service in April 2014, said it will redeploy its 278-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft elsewhere in its network consistent with its expansion plans.

“We have enjoyed sharing our Hawaiian hospitality with thousands of our Chinese guests, and will continue to invest in raising awareness of the beauty and grace of the Hawaiian Islands with a determination to return to China with nonstop service,’’ Ingram said.

Former Hawaiian CEO Mark Dunkerley, who retired March 1, had said that Hawaii’s hospitality industry must do more to make Chinese visitors feel welcome, criticizing the lack of mid- and low-priced hotels, not enough promotion in China and too few Mandarin speakers in Waikiki.

Hawaiian spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said the market was slow to mature.

“When we inaugurated service in April 2014, we were optimistic that China would be an ever-increasing source of visitors to Hawaii,” Botticelli said by email. “The market has been slower to mature than we anticipated.”

Hawaiian left open the door to someday return to China.

“Our long-term position on China is unchanged and we remain firm believers in its potential,” Botticelli said. “We hope to once again fly to China when the market matures. If you look at China’s population growth trends and economic growth indicators, there is no doubt it will become a major contributor to tourism globally, and that includes travel to Hawaii.”

Hawaiian said because it intends to return to China, it will maintain a strong sales partnership with BEALL, its general sales agent in China, and maintain its China representative office.

“Over the past four years, we made significant investments in China, and our team has done an outstanding job positioning our company for future success,” Botticelli said. “We will continue to build brand and destination awareness among Chinese travelers so that we will be ready to seize on this opportunity at the right time.”

Hawaiian first attempted to initiate China service in 2005, but its application for San Diego-Honolulu-Shanghai service was rejected by the U.S. Department of Transportation because the agency said Hawaiian’s flights “would benefit a relatively small number of travelers.”

The next two openings for China service were in 2007 and 2009. But Hawaiian passed up on the opportunity in 2007 due to difficulties Chinese citizens were having in obtaining visas, and then in 2009 had shifted its focus to expanding to Japan.

In April 2013 Hawaiian announced it planned to begin service to Beijing the following year.

The Chinese market, though, has been slow to take hold in Hawaii with arrivals down 1.9 percent to 81,319 during the first six months of 2018 from the year-earlier period, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Average daily visitor spending from China was up 9.7 percent to $363 per person during that same period.

In 2017 visitor arrivals from China were down 7.9 percent to 151,295 from 2016, while daily visitor spending was off 12.2 percent to $338 per person.

Hawaiian said it will suspend its Beijing service after the Oct. 1-7 National Day Golden Week holiday to minimize disruptions to guests. Flight 897 is scheduled to depart Honolulu at 11:55 p.m. Oct 9 and arrive in Beijing on Oct. 11 at 5:10 a.m. Flight 898 will depart Beijing at 1 a.m. Oct. 12 and arrive in Honolulu at 5 p.m. Oct. 11.

Guests holding tickets for flights beyond the end of regular scheduled serv­ice will be offered a full refund or the option of traveling on earlier dates on available Hawaiian flights as well as via partner airlines.