Japan Tourism Ramping, Hawaiian Adds More Seats

Hawaiian Airlines presented passengers boarding the inaugural flight to Osaka with a fresh flower lei as part of a special ceremony earlier last year. Hawaiian is offering daily, nonstop flights between Honolulu and Osaka. Courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines

By Sonia Isotov

Signaling a ramp in Japanese tourism, Hawaiian Airlines today announced that it will add more seats on the Osaka-Honolulu route with the introduction of its newest and largest aircraft, the 294-seat Airbus A330-200, starting April 21, 2012.

With 30 more seats than the B767-300 aircraft currently operating the route, Hawaiian’s shift to the wide-body, twin-aisle A330 aircraft will add nearly 11,000 seats annually to the Osaka-Honolulu route.

“Six months ago we introduced a completely new way to enjoy flying to Hawaii for people in the Kansai region and the response has been extremely strong,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and chief executive officer, in a written statement. “Introducing our new A330 aircraft to Osaka service will further improve the travel experience for our customers traveling from Kansai and help meet growing demand.”

Hawaiian launched daily nonstop service between Osaka and Honolulu on July 12, 2011. The company is reporting that ticket sales have been strong since the outset and demand has been increasing steadily since then.

Hawaiian Flight #449 departs Honolulu International Airport daily at 12:35 p.m. and arrives at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport at 6:15 p.m. the next day. The return Flight #450 departs Osaka daily at 9:15 p.m. and arrives in Honolulu at 9:25 a.m. the same day. (Osaka is 19 hours ahead of Honolulu and the flight crosses the International Dateline.)