Hawaiian narrows Q4 loss, reports low recovery in Japanese demand

Hawaiian Holdings, parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, reports narrowing its fourth-quarter loss as demand for air travel to the Pacific archipelago has largely rebounded – except from Japan. The Honolulu-based carrier reported on 31 January losing $50.2m during the final quarter of 2022, compared with a $92.6m loss during the same quarter of 2021, amid widespread travel restrictions related to Covid-19. For the full year of 2022, Hawaiian lost $240m, compared with a $145m loss for 2021. “It’s encouraging to be entering a year where Covid restrictions are no longer hovering over our network,” Hawaiian’s CE Peter Ingram said during the airline’s quarterly earnings call on 31 January. “But we know that we have a lot of work ahead of us as our financial performance remains quite a ways from being recovered.” Total revenue for Q4 came in at $731m, up from $495m in Q4 2021. The airline reports robust travel demand to Hawaii from North America, and demand recoveries from other key markets in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. “Having said that, despite the removal of Covid travel restrictions in October, Japanese travellers have not yet resumed international travel at a pace comparable to pre-pandemic levels,” Ingram says. “While we remain confident that the long-standing affinity of Japanese travellers for Hawaii vacations will manifest, we also need to be pragmatic about putting capacity elsewhere if recovery remains slow.” The airline struggled in the fourth quarter with on-time performance to its Honolulu hub due to construction on primary arrival runways and “air traffic control programmes that constrain arrivals into the airport”, Ingram says. The limitations have primarily affected Hawaiian’s short-haul flights to neighbour islands. “As a consequence, our reliability has fallen below our high standards,” Ingram says. “We have been forced to make adjustments to our schedule to stabilise operations.”<br/>