Alaska Airlines expected to launch long-haul Hawaii flights from two Southern California airports

In the year ending June 2025, only about 4,800 round-trip passengers traveled between Burbank and Honolulu by connecting through other cities such as San Francisco or Oakland. This figure does not represent total demand since most travelers likely used Los Angeles International Airport for nonstop service. Data from Cirium Diio indicates up to 16 daily departures between Los Angeles and Honolulu will be available from November 2025 through July 2026. Alaska Airlines will re-enter this market in November alongside several other carriers including American, Delta, Hawaiian, Southwest, and United.

For Orange County, the distance to Honolulu is slightly longer at approximately 2,245 nautical miles (4,158 kilometers). If introduced, this would be Alaska’s eighth-longest domestic narrowbody route from California. It would also mark Orange County’s longest passenger service since United Airlines discontinued its own Honolulu flights in February 2023; those began in May 2021 during the pandemic using Boeing 737-700s and carried around 96,000 passengers with a load factor of about 76%. Aloha Airlines previously operated this route from Orange County between 2001 and 2010.

If both new services are announced as expected, they will add Burbank and Orange County to a list of ten Californian airports with nonstop flights to Honolulu: Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ontario, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose—and now potentially Burbank and Orange County. This would bring scheduled daily services up to a record high of nearly sixty departures according to Cirium data.

Historically other Californian airports such as Fresno and Stockton have offered nonstop service to Honolulu in previous years but no longer do so today.