Six carriers currently fly between Los Angeles and Honolulu.
But next spring, Hawaiian Airlines will become the lone
carrier to serve Honolulu from one of the four other commercial airports in the
Los Angeles-Orange-San Bernadino county basin.
Beginning May 31, Hawaiian will fly daily between Honolulu
and Long Beach. The service will augment the carrier's thrice-daily
Honolulu-Los Angeles flights.
Hawaiian will operate the route with a new Airbus A321neo
single-aisle aircraft configured with a 16-seat first class cabin, 44 Extra
Comfort seats and 129 economy seats. The carrier introduced its first A321 last
week on its Maui-Oakland route.
Long Beach, Orange County, Ontario and Burbank airports don't
currently offer Hawaii service. Orange County's John Wayne Airport last had
service to the islands in 2012.
Southwest, which has a significant operation in Orange
County, could change the equation. The carrier plans to begin flying to Hawaii
later this year, but has not revealed routes.