Awful Hawaii Flight Delays Resurge

We’d heard from several people again over the weekend about Hawaii flight delays. David said, “Just thought you’d like to know that HA15 is delayed 22 hours till tomorrow morning.” We’ve got an update on that and what’s been happening with Hawaii flight delays once again. We checked over the past four days, from Thursday to Sunday, and here’s our report covering each domestic airline at Hawaii’s two busiest airports. We’ve also got some data comparing Hawaii with the rest of the US, and the results are not as we had hoped.

This is a big issue for those people who are in several categories:

1. Visitors who have connections into or out of Hawaii.
2. Those traveling for work.
3. Locals going to medical appointments.

Honolulu Airport Runway 8L Widening Project.

One of the number of problems associated with Hawaii flight delays is a massive Honolulu airport runway project that is currently mid-project. Another issue, perhaps more significant, although not confirmed, is the ongoing airline and FAA staffing shortages.

Regarding the runway project, we spoke with the Hawaii Department of Transportation/Airports this morning. They advised us there is no completion date yet for the runway widening project and that it may, in fact, not be completed this year! The DOT Airport website has not been updated to reflect a new completion date. It still says Q3 2023.

Per DOT, “This project is a continuation of the Runway 8L Widening Phase 1 project and consists of reconstructing the first 1,000 feet of runway from the 8L threshold with Portland cement concrete (PCC), rehabilitating/reconstructing the remaining 7,500 lineal feet of runway with asphalt concrete; modifying the existing edge lights, and installing new NAVAIDs. Taxiway’s T and V will also be realigned and reconstructed with PCC.”

We always wonder why this project wasn’t done during Covid instead of during this time of resurging travel. It would have given jobs to construction workers during the pandemic. Perhaps it relates to funding or something else entirely.

What happened to HA 15 on Sunday?

We don’t know what occurred. Clearly, the passenger on the plane reported it had been delayed 22 hours. But on checking FlightAware, it now appears that yesterday’s flight was canceled entirely.

Hawaii Airports have massive flight delays.

After reviewing the inquiries we received, it was clear that checking on recent flight delays was a good idea. Here’s what we found at the two busiest Hawaii airports over the past few days:

Maui Airport (OGG) flight delays.

Sunday, March 12: 92 flights.

• 50% (5) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 41% (7) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 80% (8) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 42% (37) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 65% (32) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 21% (3) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Saturday, March 11: 102 flights.

• 60% (6) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 50% (9) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 81% (9) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 48% (40) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 50% (23) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 83% (15) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Friday, March 10: 96 flights.

• 60% (6) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 50% (8) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 90% (9) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 52% (40) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 56% (26) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 50% (7) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Thursday, March 9: 93 flights.

• 30% (3) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 64% (9) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 66% (6) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 54% (46) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 50% (23) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 42% (6) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Honolulu Airport (HNL) flight delays.

Sunday, March 12: 161 flights.

• 50% (7) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 57% (15) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 42% (9) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 38% (72) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 58% (48) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 34% (10) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Saturday, March 11: 140 flights.

• 50% (7) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 63% (14) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 30% (6) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 32% (60) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 55% (44) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 30% (9) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Friday, March 10: 150 flights.

• 42% (6) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 35% (7) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 40% (8) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 40% (79) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 53% (43) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 23% (7) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

Thursday, March 9: 188 flights.

• 57% (8) of American Airlines flights were delayed.
• 50% (11) of Alaska Airlines flights were delayed.
• 31% (6) of Delta Airlines flights were delayed.
• 54% (103) of Hawaiian Airlines flights were delayed.
• 59% (48) of Southwest flights were delayed.
• 46% (12) of United Airlines flights were delayed.

How Hawaii compared with nationwide flight delays.

Compared with nationwide flight delays, Hawaii appeared to fare somewhat worse than average. Hawaii has always enjoyed a reputation for more on-time flights than the US mainland. That we believe has related in large part to the year-round good weather in Hawaii. That’s one of the reasons that Hawaiian has had the reputation as the most on-time carrier in the US for many years. Not only that, but Hawaii, having no ground or water transportation, relies on the timeliness of flight in the same way the mainland relies on buses and trains.

Sunday, March 12 US flight delays.

• Alaska Airlines: 32%
• American Airlines: 32%
• Delta Airlines: 38%
• Hawaiian Airlines (not listed)
• Southwest Airlines: 40%
• United Airlines: 32%

We didn’t compare all of the other days listed with nationwide data. But, if you’d care to do that, you can visit FlightAware.

What can you do about Hawaii flight delays?

We highly recommend not tightly scheduling any connecting flights in Hawaii at this time. For our own travels, we plan on a minimum of three hours of connection time at all of Hawaii’s airports, even though the airline websites will offer you much shorter, but likely unworkable connections.