After 95 years of flying the skies over Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines no longer exists as an independent airline. On October 29, 2025, flight HA866 from Pago Pago to Honolulu touched down as the last flight to carry the Hawaiian Airlines call sign. The next morning, every Hawaiian flight became an Alaska Airlines flight behind the scenes, even if the plane still wore the familiar Pualani flower on its tail.

If you are planning a trip to Hawaii, this matters. The merger changes how you book, which app you use, what happens to your miles, and in some cases, whether certain routes still exist. Here is everything you need to know.

How We Got Here

Alaska Airlines announced its plan to acquire Hawaiian Airlines on December 3, 2023, offering $18 per share — a 270 percent premium over Hawaiian’s closing price the day before. The total deal, including assumed debt, was valued at approximately $2.8 billion.

Hawaiian was in trouble. Years of financial losses, roughly $900 million in outstanding debt, and the devastating August 2023 Maui wildfires had pushed the airline toward a crisis. Without the acquisition, another bankruptcy filing — Hawaiian had been through one before — looked increasingly likely.

The Department of Justice chose not to challenge the deal, and the Department of Transportation approved it on September 17, 2024, with conditions. The merger officially closed the next day, September 18, 2024.

The Timeline of Changes

The merger did not happen all at once. It unfolded in stages over 18 months, and the final stage is happening right now.

• September 18, 2024 — Acquisition completed. Hawaiian becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Air Group.
• October 1, 2025 — HawaiianMiles loyalty program merges into the new Atmos Rewards program.
• October 26, 2025 — All Hawaiian flight numbers renumbered into the HA800-HA1299 range.
• October 29, 2025 — FAA issues a Single Operating Certificate. Hawaiian’s ICAO call sign “HAWAIIAN” is retired. All flights now operate under Alaska’s call sign.
• March 30, 2026 — New combined Alaska Hawaiian app launches.
• April 22, 2026 — Final system cutover. Hawaiian’s old booking system (Amadeus) shuts down permanently. Everything moves to Sabre. The standalone Hawaiian Airlines app stops working.

What the “Dual Brand” Strategy Actually Means

Alaska Air Group is keeping the Hawaiian Airlines brand alive — but only in certain contexts. The rule is simple: if a flight touches Hawaii, it carries Hawaiian branding. If it does not, it is Alaska Airlines.

In practice, this means the Boeing 717s flying between Honolulu and Maui still wear the Pualani flower and Hawaiian livery. The A330 widebodies crossing the Pacific from the mainland to Honolulu still look and feel like Hawaiian Airlines flights. But the four Boeing 787 Dreamliners that Hawaiian ordered have already been fully repainted in Alaska’s new teal-and-blue “Global” livery. They fly international routes out of Seattle — Tokyo, Seoul, and soon London and Rome — with no Hawaiian branding whatsoever.

Behind the scenes, it is one airline. One reservation system, one operating certificate, one management team, one loyalty program. The difference between Hawaiian and Alaska is essentially cosmetic — the paint on the plane and the style of the onboard service.

Skeptics question how long two brands can coexist inside one operation. The airline industry has more failures than successes with dual-brand strategies. But for now, when you board a flight at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, it still says Hawaiian Airlines on the fuselage.

What Changed for Passengers

The App and Booking System

If you used the Hawaiian Airlines app, it is gone as of April 22, 2026. The replacement is the combined Alaska Hawaiian app, launched March 30, 2026. All bookings, check-ins, and boarding passes run through it.

The booking system transition has been painful. Hawaiian switched from Sabre to Amadeus in 2023 — a move that itself caused widespread customer complaints. Now it is switching back to Sabre as part of the merger. Until the April 22 cutover, the two airlines operated on separate systems, causing confusion about where to check bookings, how to change flights, and who to call for help. Alaska’s CEO publicly apologized, acknowledging that problems would continue for roughly six more months.

Loyalty Programs

HawaiianMiles no longer exists. It merged into the new Atmos Rewards program on October 1, 2025. Miles converted at roughly a 1-to-1 ratio, with some reports of a slight bonus (1.05:1). Elite status transferred as well — Pualani Gold mapped to Atmos Silver, and Pualani Platinum to Atmos Gold.

Atmos has four tiers: Silver (20,000 points), Gold (40,000), Platinum (80,000), and Titanium (135,000). One novel feature is that members can choose whether to earn points based on distance flown, price paid, or segments flown — an industry first.

The DOT required Alaska to protect rewards program value for six years, meaning they cannot devalue your points during that window. In practice, some frequent flyers have reported higher award pricing and fewer cheap award seats since the merger, but the legal protections remain in place.

Cabin Classes

Hawaiian flights now offer five cabin classes: First Class (with lie-flat seats on widebody aircraft), Premium Class (formerly Extra Comfort, with complimentary cocktails and up to four inches of extra legroom), Main Cabin Preferred, Main Cabin, and Saver Fare.

Food and In-Flight Service

Hawaiian-branded flights now feature menus curated by Hawaii-based chef Jason Peel. First Class offers multi-course dining with up to six entree choices on international routes. The complimentary hot meals that made Hawaiian distinctive on domestic flights continue, including wine service — still a rarity among U.S. carriers.

One significant upgrade: Hawaiian passengers gained Starlink satellite Wi-Fi. The fleet streamed over 177,000 hours of content in 2025.

Routes That Disappeared

Not every route survived the merger. Hawaiian’s nonstop service from Boston to Honolulu ended on November 19, 2025. International routes to Fukuoka, Japan and Seoul, South Korea were also cut, ending over 14 years of Seoul service.

Some mainland routes were swapped from Hawaiian widebodies to Alaska narrowbodies — Honolulu to San Jose and Salt Lake City, for example. Hawaiian shifted its A321neo aircraft onto different routes in response.

On the positive side, Alaska launched new service from Las Vegas to Kona on the Big Island in December 2025 — a route that never existed before. The 787 Dreamliners are opening entirely new international routes from Seattle to Tokyo Narita, Seoul Incheon, and planned service to London Heathrow and Rome.

Crucially, inter-island service continues unchanged under the Hawaiian brand. The 19 Boeing 717s still fly between Honolulu, Maui, Kauai, Kona, and Hilo. The DOT mandated that Alaska maintain inter-island capacity for at least six years.

The Government’s Conditions

The DOT attached conditions to the merger that last six years. Alaska must maintain inter-island service levels, preserve the value of the loyalty program, support rural air service in Hawaii and Alaska, ensure competitive access at Honolulu’s hub airport, provide fee-free family seating, and lower costs for military families.

Critics have called some of these conditions symbolic, arguing they simply require Alaska to do things it would do anyway. But the legal framework exists, and any backsliding on inter-island service or rewards value would violate the agreement.

The Human Cost

Hawaiian had approximately 6,000 union employees and 1,300 non-union staff. Alaska pledged to keep all union positions. For non-union employees, the picture has been grimmer — over 300 have been separated as of early 2026, with 48 additional Hawaii-based layoffs announced in March 2026.

Beyond the numbers, there are culture clashes between Seattle-based Alaska and Honolulu-based Hawaiian workforces, pay gaps between equivalent positions, and the emotional weight of watching a 95-year-old local institution absorbed by a mainland carrier.

A Lawsuit and an Uncertain Future

In February 2026, passengers filed an antitrust lawsuit claiming the merger creates a monopoly on Hawaii flights, with Alaska now controlling over 40 percent of traffic between Hawaii and the continental United States. The suit seeks to break up the merger and restore Hawaiian as a standalone airline. The case is on appeal.

Whether the lawsuit succeeds or not, the practical reality is that Hawaiian Airlines as an independent company no longer exists. The brand survives on fuselages and in marketing materials, but the decisions are made in Seattle, the loyalty program is Alaska’s, and the booking system is Alaska’s.

What This Means If You Are Booking a Hawaii Trip

For anyone planning a trip to Hawaii right now, here is what matters:

• Use the Alaska Hawaiian app for all bookings, check-in, and boarding passes. The old Hawaiian Airlines app no longer works after April 22, 2026.
• Your HawaiianMiles are now Atmos Rewards points. Log in at alaskaair.com to check your balance and status.
• Inter-island flights are unchanged. If you are staying in Waikiki and want to island-hop to Maui or Kauai, the same Hawaiian-branded 717 jets fly the same routes.
• Check route availability. If you were counting on the Boston nonstop or the Seoul route, those are gone. Verify your preferred routing before booking.
• Book through alaskaair.com rather than hawaiianairlines.com — the Hawaiian website increasingly redirects to Alaska’s booking engine.

The aloha spirit that defined Hawaiian Airlines for 95 years is not something that can be transferred in a corporate merger. But the planes still fly, the islands are still there, and getting to Hawaii remains as easy as it has ever been. What changed is who signs the paychecks — and which app you use to board.

This article is part of our Flying to Hawaii series. Read more: The History of Tourism in Hawaii | The White Ships Era