Hawaiian Airlines feels the sting of excess capacity in North America, some of its own making

For Hawaiian Airlines, after a solid financial performance in 4Q2014 and CY2014, a combination of currency headwinds and industry capacity increases on North American routes are creating unit revenue headwinds during 1Q2015. The airline's guidance projects the deepest decrease reported by any US airline.

The capacity pressure is driven by additions from both Hawaiian and its competitors on routes to the US mainland. During 2014 Hawaiian opted to redeploy some capacity from long-haul routes that were eliminated back to the US west coast, and still believes that the decision is producing favourable results despite the current capacity pressure.

As it navigates through some revenue challenges in 1Q2015, Hawaiian's capacity growth is slowing from previous years, and it is also forecasting a decent cost outlook for CY2015, welcome signs that some of the headwinds it has faced in the past are starting to subside.