Hawaiian Airlines plans to launch a codeshare with Taiwan's China Airlines, as it continues to expand its partner network in Asia.
The Honolulu-based carrier will begin codesharing with China Airlines via Taipei, says Andrew Watterson, vice-president of planning and revenue management at Hawaiian, on the sidelines of the Phoenix International Aviation Symposium in Phoenix today. It begins three-times weekly Honolulu-Taipei service on an Airbus A330-200 in July.
He says that the codeshare will include flights between Taipei and Manila, replacing Hawaiian's nonstop service between Honolulu and Manila that ends on 1 August.
Hawaiian decided to exit the Honolulu-Manila market after irrational competitive pricing by Philippine Airlines on the route, chief executive Mark Dunkerley said during an earnings call on 24 April.
Watterson did not say when the China Airlines codeshare will begin.
The move continues Hawaiian's strategy to expand its network through codeshares. In Asia-Pacific, it added partnerships with Air China and All Nippon Airways (ANA) in 2012 and has said that it wants to continue to expand that network.
"Our new codeshare partnerships have also proven successful in giving us good connecting volumes," said Dunkerley in January. "We will continue to add new itineraries by combining our network with those of our partners to drive incremental business."
The carrier named Michael Chock as its first director of alliances and airline partnerships in February.
China Airlines announced that it would resume twice-weekly service between Taipei and Honolulu on an A330-300 from 2 June, in February. The move came nearly three months after Hawaiian announced that it would launch flights on the route.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
