In 2008, Hawaiian Airlines placed a headline order for six Airbus A350-800 models alongside six older-generation Airbus A330-200s, a two-pronged plan that was designed to modernize long-haul flying in the near term. The addition of Airbus A350 models to the fleet later was meant to add to the airline’s operational capabilities. Sales of the smallest Airbus A350 variant ultimately stalled, and the manufacturer moved to kill the program and steer customers towards re-engined Airbus A330neo variants instead. Starting in 2014, Hawaiian Airlines ultimately swapped out its six Airbus A350-800s for six Airbus A330-800neo models. This pivot would ultimately prove temporary, and Hawaiian Airlines would ultimately cancel its Airbus order altogether and shift towards purchasing Boeing 787s instead.
This story covers a decade of shifting technology, changes in aircraft financing strategy, and fleet-risk management. Retrospectives ultimately underline how the Airbus A350-800 never actually came into service and how Airbus was forced to instead defend that market niche with the less capable Airbus A330neo. Hawaiian Airlines ultimately elected to pursue operational flexibility with its widebody order, instead choosing to prioritize the Airbus A350-800 model or the A330neo, which the manufacturer elected to replace it with once it had canceled the smaller A350’s development program.
An Original Order That Came Along With Big Plans
Hawaiian’s 2008 order for the Airbus A350-800 came alongside the purchase of six Airbus A330-200s, which were designed to support a multistep capacity growth plan. Airbus A330s quickly reserved some slots for lighter, long-range Airbus A350 variants that were appropriately sized for Hawaiian’s long-and-thin missions. Airbus announced the order as part of a firm deal in 2008, which positioned the new Airbus A350-800 as a next-generation step beyond the Airbus A330 that would maintain the airline’s long-standing Airbus cockpit philosophy.
This split order balanced near-term capacity and long-term efficiency. Crucially, this would lock in future widebody availability during a seller’s market. For Hawaiian Airlines, the Airbus A330-200 provided an immediate lift in transpacific capacity and would serve as a bridge towards the incorporation of later technology into the airline’s dynamic fleet. For Airbus, landing a major US carrier as a customer for the Airbus A350 was a big win, and it highlighted the family’s breadth, especially this early into its overall sales cycle.
At that time, the Airbus A350-800 promised range and economics without adding the extra size of an Airbus A350-900, which would be an appealing match for the airline’s Honolulu-based network. In hindsight, the aircraft’s optionality was ultimately smart. It separated near-term from long-term decision-making. Hawaiian Airlines preserved flexibility to react as the program matured, something which would become central to the reason why the airline eventually decided to shift its orders away from the Airbus A350 and towards the Boeing 787. However, it is important to understand the context for this order and the factors that motivated it.
What Happened To The Airbus A350-800 Order?’
As the Airbus A350 program began to mature, the smallest member of the family, the Airbus A350-800, quickly slid into something of a commercial dead zone as it struggled to rack up orders. Customers were ultimately far more interested in the larger Airbus A350-900s operating economics, and Airbus increasingly pushed airlines towards either the Airbus A350-900 or a refreshed Airbus A330neo in the 250-300 seat bracket. Industry analysts would ultimately describe the Airbus A350-800 as the “widebody that never was,” and they noted its shrinking backlog and eventual cancellation in 2014.
The aircraft offered the lowest capacity of any Airbus A350 model that was brought to the table, and it punished airlines that would operate it with poorer seat economics. For operators like Hawaiian Airlines, which had ultimately sized their long-haul strategy around the promised range of the Airbus A350-800, the cancellation of the program did come as somewhat of a disappointment. This move forced the airline to rethink. It could purchase higher-capacity aircraft like the Airbus A350-900, which offered more seats than were desirable on some routes, while also adopting the Airbus A330neo as a lower-risk, lower-cost route that offered more modern engines and avionics.
Industry analysts have extensively attempted to outline how the Airbus A350-800’s overlap with the Airbus A350-900 ultimately undermined the smaller model, according to Reuters. The aircraft variant’s demise was not due to technical failure but rather an oversight in terms of portfolio optimization. Airbus ultimately concentrated demand on stronger products, leaving airlines to re-optimize their fleets. This decision helped set the stage for Hawaiian’s pivot in 2014 that helped shape the broader long-haul market towards the A350-900/1000.
A Pivot Towards The Airbus A330-800neo
Hawaiian Airlines’ first response was to swap its six Airbus A350-800 models for a set of six Airbus A330-800neos starting in December 2014, ultimately boosting the program beyond the 100 order threshold and giving Airbus public proof for the smallest member of the Airbus A330neo family. The logic behind this move was fully understandable, as the aircraft offers a similar size to the Airbus A350-800, with modern engines and the opportunity to upgrade over the Airbus A330-200’s cabin experience.
Despite seeming like a good fit for Hawaiian Airlines, the jet struggled to attract other customers, ultimately raising concerns about the aircraft’s residual value and the financial appetite for the model. By 2018, reports had indicated that Hawaiian would be dropping the Airbus A330-800neo in favor of the Boeing 787, ultimately orphaning yet another sub-variant. This allowed the airline to trade a low-customer program for a deeply liquid one with both a strong lessor and secondary support market. The full chain from A350-800 to Boeing 787 had now been completed.
This move aligned Hawaiian Airlines with a platform that had now become ubiquitous across long-haul airlines, a process that ultimately made pilot hiring much easier and improved simulator access and financing. This preserved the airline’s ability to right-size between the Boeing 787-9. From a strategic standpoint, the airline shifted supplier concentration to reduce overall program risk. For Airbus, this loss underscored the challenges associated with sustaining the Airbus A330-800neo.
What Does This Story Tell Us About Airbus?
This episode helps illustrate how Airbus’ long-haul segmentation strategy has shifted under pressure. With the Airbus A350-800 gone, Airbus has begun to defend the lower end of the widebody market for the Airbus A330neo while letting the A350 family finally just start at the A350-900. The Hawaiian swap in 2014 helped Airbus tout momentum for the Airbus A330neo family, as it was able to catalog more than 100 orders for the model. It also highlighted the difficulty of catalyzing the smaller Airbus A330-800 versus its more popular siblings.
Boeing’s entrenched Boeing 787 simply proved too much of a winner in this part of the market. Analysts at the time ultimately framed the Airbus A330neo as a capital-light answer for airlines looking for the efficiency of next-generation engines without the acquisition costs associated with a clean-sheet widebody aircraft. The market ultimately began to favor the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350-900, leaving the A330-800 for extremely niche applications.
This ultimately explains Airbus’ subsequent focus, winning on the Airbus A350-900, where the performance and cabins sell themselves, while the Airbus A330-900 remains more competitive on price and availability. The Airbus A350-800 lacks a clear target market, meaning that there really was no room for it in the market.
What Is The Hawaiian Airlines Long-Haul Fleet Strategy Today?
The current Hawaiian Airlines long-haul plan sits inside the Alaska Air Group’s overall strategy. A merger that closed in September 2024, the airline will be using Hawaiian’s widebodies to build out its Seattle-oriented long-haul network. In practice, this means that Boeing 787-9s are being deployed increasingly from Seattle, with reports of some orders being converted into larger Boeing 787-10 models for larger transpacific routes.
Back in Hawaii, the Airbus A330-200 remains the day-to-day workhorse for the fleet, while the airline adds a true premium economy cabin. In order to stabilize capacity and improve yields, the airline is looking to continue increasing its premium mix. In the near term, this means that fewer Hawaiian-branded Boeing 787 missions from Honolulu will be countered by more flights from Seattle across the North Atlantic.
|
Aircraft Type |
Number |
|---|---|
|
Airbus A330-200 |
24 |
|
Boeing 787 |
4 |
Over the next twelve months, Alaska Airlines has big plans for long-haul expansion, and these long-haul jets that are operated by Hawaiian Airlines will be a key piece of this strategy. Services will operate to destinations all across the globe, with flights being added to multiple European destinations.
What’s The Bottom Line?
At the end of the day, Hawaiian Airlines’ saga with the Airbus A350-800, the Airbus A330-800neo, and ultimately the Boeing 787 explains the airline’s continued fleet expansion objectives. The airline wants to make sure that its flights are filled and that it can achieve the lowest unit costs possible.
Due to the geographic uniqueness of the Hawaiian Islands, the Airbus A350-800 would have been the perfect model for the airline. However, the aircraft variant simply did not have enough interest for continued development.
This ultimately brought us to the situation where the airline decided to shift its order towards the Boeing 787. This story is fascinating, and it tells us about the unique manner in which airlines identify, pursue, and adapt their fleet management strategies to meet their needs at any point in time.
