Boston will soon have direct flights to Honolulu

Hawaii promises paradise to vacationers. Getting there It's far from happy.

But Hawaiian Airlines is about to make this task difficult – which often lasts 15 hours or so – much easier for New England.

The company plans to unveil Friday a nonstop flight of about ten hours covering nearly 5,100 miles between Boston and Honolulu. Considered the longest national battle in US history, the five-day-a-week service will connect Logan International Airport to the Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

Flights are expected to begin on April 4 on an Airbus with 278 seats.
A330 jets.

How does Hawaiian know that he will have one for record books? Because it's the current record holder, with the New York-Honolulu route launched in 2012. The success of the New York route has encouraged the airline to double on the East Coast by launching non-stop flights from Boston. .

Referring to the launch in New York, "this is the moment when we took the importance of establishing ourselves in the eastern United States," said airline CEO Peter Ingram.

"We see Boston as a great opportunity. We are also encouraged by all the growth of long-haul and international services in Boston in recent years. This gives us confidence in the market. . . have the opportunity to grow.

The Boston metropolitan area is the largest non-stop US market to Hawaii, the company said, although nearly 500 people fly between Logan and Hawaii on a typical day.

Travelers have at least one stop, which means the trip can last from 13 to 20 hours. Many people interrupt their trip with one night, often in Los Angeles.

Thomas Glynn, chief executive of the Massachusetts Port Authority, said the new flights will make travel to Hawaii easier for just one week. Today, many New Zealanders are planning two days of travel to the islands and another two days to return home, he said.

"Obviously, there are already a lot of requests, even if the current option [usually] requires flying to Los Angeles and changing planes or staying overnight, "said Glynn. "There is good demand now, and we think it will really get worse when people see that they have that choice."

Flights will depart from Logan Terminal E, which is used primarily by international airlines. Glynn said that Hawaiian wanted to use Terminal C, the home of its commercial partner JetBlue, but that there was not enough room.

Hawaiian has promotional return fares for $ 617 in the main cabin and $ 1,776 for the first class, with "flat" leather seats.

These prices would only be guaranteed for next April's travel, with a few exceptions during the month.

Current prices on other airlines for this period of the year start at $ 800 and are not meant for non-stop flights.

Ingram said that Hawaiian would strive to be competitive and probably not charge much more than existing fares on other airlines, even though it's the only one offering nonstop service from Boston . This is partly because business travelers are relatively few in number than vacationers.

"We could maybe get a little extra to fly non-stop," Ingram said, "but not the same amount of premium you can get on the professional market and people use an expense account.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misinterpreted the date of the maiden flight.

Jon Chesto can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto.