Alaska Airlines To Purchase Hawaiian Airlines

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Alaska Airlines will purchase Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion at $18 per share. For many years, Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines were the main airlines in Hawaii. However, Aloha Airlines closed its business in 2008. Other airlines, such as Go Airlines (Mesa Air Group), entered the market. Southwest Airlines recently joined the Hawaii Market in 2019.

What does it mean for consumers?

It’s been several years since I flew on Hawaiian Airlines because Southwest had the cheaper fares for inter-island travel. But I flew on Hawaiian Airlines for many years. As a passenger, I choose the airlines with the cheapest fares at the time.

I hope Hawaiian Airlines is around for many more years to come. Hawaiian Airlines had a monopoly on the inter-island market when Aloha Airlines closed. Everything changed when Southwest Airlines entered the Hawaii Inter-island market.

I recall seagliders were part of Hawaiian Airlines’ plans to expand their inter-island service with additional options. Will it be part of the plans now that Alaska Airlines will purchase Hawaiian Airlines?

Final Thoughts

The more inter-island airlines in the market, the better. It might not be good from a business standpoint, but competition is always better for the consumer. I’m glad Hawaiian Airlines found a way to continue because the alternative would have been worse if Hawaiian Airlines closed their business.