Hawaiian Airlines set for premium economy, new business class

 Hawaiian Airlines is adding premium economy to its Airbus A330 fleet, along with new business class seats crowning an enlarged premium cabin.

The move comes as Alaska Airlines, which last year acquired Hawaiian in a US$1.9 billion takeover, takes charge of Hawaiian’s Boeing 787s in order to establish its own long-range fleet for flights from Seattle to Asia, Europe and potentially Australia.

Alaska Airlines is taking over Hawaiian's Boeing 787 jets.

This will leave Hawaiian Airlines’ older A330 jets as what Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci described as its “backbone” for flights between Honolulu, the mainland US and premium Asia-Pacific destinations.

That puts a tip-to-tail refresh on the cards for all 24 of the twin-aisle workhorses, and it will include a fresh premium economy cabin – something which Hawaiian notably opted out of for its Dreamliners.

“We’re going to be putting international premium economy seats on that,” Alaska Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison confirmed earlier this year, with Hawaiian chasing the growing market of travellers seeking ‘affordable comfort’ between economy and business.

The A330s currently have 88 ‘economy plus’ seats offering additional legroom and AC power outlets.

Hawaiian's current Economy Comfort seats will make way for a proper premium economy offering.

Hawaiian’s A330 push into premium economy is expected to replace those seats with four rows of superior recliners which are wider, provide greater comfort and a higher level of amenity, accompanied by upgraded inflight dining.

New business class seats will replace the current out-dated models, which despite being lie-flat beds are arranged in a 2-2-2 layout of 18 seats across three rows.

Hawaiian's current A330 business class.

“We’re going to be reconfiguring the A330 and increasing the first class cabin, the J cabin,” Harrison said, adopting domestic US terminology for seats at the front of the plane.

The new business class and premium economy sections “over the next few years will generate significantly more revenue than they do today,” he added.

Mood lighting will also feature on the refreshed planes.

With two dozen A330s in its fleet, the refurbishment program is expected to take place “over the next few years,” the airline says, with more details to be shared in 2026.

As previously reported, Hawaiian Airlines will also join the Oneworld alliance next year.