United Airlines to start Orange County-Honolulu route in May 

United Airlines will launch daily service between Orange County, California (SNA) and Honolulu (HNL) on May 6, becoming the only airline to connect the two airports nonstop.

The flights will be operated with Boeing 737-700 aircraft. The new service raises the number of routes United will operate between the mainland US and Hawaii in its summer travel schedule to more than 20.

The SNA-HNL route joins United's previously announced launches of Hawaii flights this coming summer between Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Kona (KOA) using a 787-9 and between Newark, New Jersey (EWR) and Maui (OGG) using a 767-300ER. Both of those services will operate 4X-weekly, starting June 3.

"We know customers are dreaming of summer getaways and we want United to be their top choice for travel to Hawaii," United VP of international network and alliances Patrick Quayle said, adding: "United is committed to helping safely restore travel to Hawaii and has introduced a number of solutions to make it easier for customers to understand and follow safety requirements throughout the islands.

“Earlier this month, [United said] that customers traveling to Hawaii who have a valid negative COVID-19 test can show their results before boarding to save time and skip document screening lines upon arrival. United is also making it easier to get the right tests to avoid Hawaii's 10-day quarantine by making approved COVID-19 tests available to all customers traveling to the islands no matter where in the US their travel begins.”

Aaron Karp

Aaron Karp is a Contributing Editor to the Aviation Week Network.