Hawaiian Airlines sees promising signs for Japanese outbound recovery

While many airlines are watching for the return of Japanese outbound travel demand, this traffic flow is particularly important to Hawaiian Airlines.

Japan represented the airline's largest international market before the pandemic, and its restoration will be a key element in Hawaiian's full recovery. However, overall international leisure travel from Japan has been slow to resume after most entry restrictions were removed in Oct-2022.

Other airlines are also affected by this trend. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have both discussed it previously, as seen in this analysis of ANA and this one on JAL.

The relative significance of the Japan market to Hawaiian Airlines, and to the state's tourism industry, means the airline has some interesting insights into post-pandemic outbound demand dynamics there.

Theo Panagiotoulias, Hawaiian Airlines senior vice president for global sales and alliances, talked to Aviation Week about what Hawaiian is seeing in this important market.