Honolulu Flights & Honolulu Airport (HNL) Guide: Top Routes LAX, SFO, SEA

It's Easy to Find a Direct Flight to Honolulu/Waikiki

Named in honor of the esteemed late Hawaiian U.S. Senator, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, better known to most as Honolulu International Airport, is the primary airport serving the Aloha State. Inouye, a Medal of Honor recipient, was a Honolulu native and represented Hawaii in the U.S. Senate for nearly half a century from 1963 until his passing in 2012. The airport’s official name was changed in 2017.

Honolulu’s airport has long been the largest in the Pacific island chain with more than 200 daily flights. Vacationers can easily get here from the U.S., Canada, Asia, several South Pacific island nations, as well as Oceania which is comprised of Australia and New Zealand. Two-thirds of the population of Hawaii lives on Oahu, home to Honolulu, where there are slightly more than one million residents, so it makes sense that the major airport is located here.

The second most populous island is Hawaii (The Big Island), which 200,000 people call home. There are 1.5 million people living on all of the Hawaiian Islands combined.

With the introduction in recent years of long-haul narrow body versions of the Boeing 737 and Airbus A321, direct air service has expanded from many western U.S. markets that were in the past unable to fill larger aircraft.

Let’s take a deeper dive into your airline choices for direct flights to Honolulu, and how long that flight will take. You may be surprised at how quickly you could be relaxing on the beach in one of the most beautiful island destinations in the world.

Flying to Honolulu/Waikiki from North America

Based on the most recent airline schedules, nonstop flights to Honolulu are offered from the following U.S. and Canadian cities:

(flight time is westbound, gate-to-gate, and approximate, with eastbound flights being somewhat shorter by 30 minutes to an hour depending on the distance.)

Western U.S.

Anchorage (ANC) – Alaska Airlines; 6:10

Long Beach (LGB) – Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines; 5:50

Los Angeles (LAX) - American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian, Southwest, United Airlines; 5:45

Las Vegas (LAS) – Hawaiian, Southwest; 5:45

Oakland (OAK) – Hawaiian, Southwest; 5:30

Ontario, CA (ONT) – Southwest; 5:30

Phoenix – American, Hawaiian, Southwest; 6:40

Portland, OR (PDX) – Hawaiian; 5:50

Sacramento (SMF) – Hawaiian, Southwest; 5:10

Salt Lake City (SLC) – Delta; 6:45

San Bernardino (SBD) – Hawaiian, 5:25

San Diego (SAN) – Hawaiian, Southwest; 5:30

San Francisco (SFO) – Hawaiian, United; 5:05

San Jose (SJC) – Southwest; 5:25

Seattle (SEA) – Alaska, Delta, Hawaiian; 6:10

East of the Rockies

Atlanta (ATL) – Delta; 8:50

Chicago (ORD) – United; 8:10

Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) – American; 7:20

Denver (DEN) – United; 7:15

Detroit (DTW) – Delta; 8:45

Houston (IAH) – United; 7:35

Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) – Delta; 7:50

New York (JFK) – Delta, Hawaiian; 9:35

Washington, DC (IAD) – United

Canada

Calgary (YYC) – WestJet; 7:05

Edmonton (YEG) – WestJet; 7:30

Toronto (YYZ) – Air Canada; 10:00

Vancouver (YVR) – WestJet; 6:15

During the winter months there are occasional direct flights from Winnipeg and Montreal to Hawaii.

Flying to Honolulu/Waikiki from Asia

(flight times are eastbound, gate-to-gate, and approximate, with westbound flights being somewhat longer by 30 minutes to an hour depending on the distance.)

Fukuoka, Japan (FUK) – Hawaiian; 9:15

Manila, Philippines (MNL) – Philippine Airlines; 11:20

Nagoya, Japan (NGO) – Japan Air Lines (JAL); 8:10

Osaka, Japan (OSA) – Hawaiian, JAL; 8:45

Seoul, South Korea (ICN) – Asiana, Hawaiian, Korean Air, Air Premia; 9:00

Tokyo, Haneda Airport, Japan (HND) – All Nippon (ANA), Delta, Hawaiian, JAL; 7:40

Tokyo, Narita Airport, Japan (NRT) – All Nippon (ANA), JAL, Zip Air; 7:40

Flying to Honolulu/Waikiki from Oceania

Melbourne, Australia (MEL) – Qantas, 10:35

Sydney, Australia (SYD) – Hawaiian, Jetstar, Qantas; 10:05

Auckland, New Zealand (AKL) – Air New Zealand, Hawaiian; 8:50

Flights from Honolulu to Maui, Kauai, and The Big Island

Oahu, home to Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, numerous cultural sites, surfing on the North Shore at Turtle Bay, and more than 30,000 hotel rooms is the action-packed island of the Hawaiian chain. Most travelers who choose to visit just a single island pick Oahu, “The Gathering Place”, for their vacation.

However, many visitors want to experience at least one additional island after having flown such a long distance to get here. Kauai, “The Garden Isle”, Maui, “The Valley Isle”, and Hawaii, “The Big Island”, are the three most popular neighbor islands that offer beachfront accommodations, golf, beautiful drives, helicopter tours, amazing sunrise and sunset opportunities, and a very relaxed feel compared to Oahu. Each island has a distinctive vibe that is different from any other.

Hawaii’s tourism infrastructure makes it easy to hop on a flight to another island, with Kauai and Maui being just 30-40 minutes away, and Kona on the west coast of the Big Island being reachable by air in about 50 minutes from Honolulu International Airport.

Hawaiian Airlines, which is owned by Alaska Airlines, offers the most inter-island flights, with Southwest Airlines also being a major player on the Honolulu to Kauai, Maui, and Kona routes. There are also flights to the east coast city of Hilo on the Big Island, but the majority of resorts and condominiums on this island are located close to Kona.

There are only a handful of flights offered each day directly between neighbor islands, such as Kona to Maui, Maui to Kauai, or Kauai to Kona, with Hawaiian Airlines as the primary airline. It’s also quite simple to make a quick connection at Honolulu to travel from one island to another.

Finding Your Best Place to Stay in Hawaii

Now that you know just how easy it is to get to Hawaii, you may now be wondering where to find the best hotel deals. Not only at Waikiki, but on all of the Hawaiian Islands my go-to website is Travelated which consistently delivers the best Hawaii hotel prices as well as the best selection of properties.

With nearly 100 properties available at Waikiki in all price ranges, it doesn’t matter if you have a tight budget or have been saving to be able to have an upscale Hawaii experience. Travelated is the best hotel website as far as I’m concerned.

Whether you are planning a week in Honolulu at Waikiki, or will be venturing out to Maui, the Big Island, or Kauai, Travelated will have the right hotel or condominium for you.