Hawaiian Airlines long-haul fortunes continue to improve, but cost pressure looms in 4Q2014

Hawaiian Airlines continued to see improvements in its long-haul network during 3Q2014 as the changes it has made to lift the fortunes on its Asian and Australian routes seem to be bearing fruit.

The airline's performance in its North American and inter-island markets was more tempered as those regions recorded strong performances in 3Q2013, making the comparisons a bit more difficult. However, capacity in North America is up year-on-year, driven in part by Hawaiian adding service to the US west coast.

Hawaiian started 4Q2014 facing unit cost inflation as one-time investments and other items are pressuring its cost performance. The airline believes that some drivers of its higher costs should be accretive in the long term, and expects some decrease in unit cost growth during 2015.