Hawaiian Airlines To Drop “Hawaiian” Callsign For “Alaska” In Late October
Following Alaska Airlines’ acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines in September 2024, a lot has changed since in anticipation of the two carriers eventually operating under a Single Operating Certificate (SOC).
When pilots operating commercial flights, most of the time they use callsigns to identify themselves to the air traffic controllers. For instance, Hawaiian Airlines uses “Hawaiian” as their radio callsign, while Alaska Airlines uses “Alaska”. If the flight number was HA123, the pilots would say “Hawaiian 123”.
Now this may not seem interesting to the average traveler, but Airwaysmag is reporting that effective October 29th, 00:11 HST (1011 Zulu), Hawaiian Airlines flights will drop their “Hawaiian” callsign in favor of “Alaska”.
The final “Hawaiian” flight will be flight 866, and the first Hawaiian aircraft using the “Alaska” callsign will be flight 2604. There will be a bit of leeway though as delayed Hawaiian flights up to 89 minutes will retain their original callsign, but those 90 minutes and beyond will switch to “Alaska”.
Adjusted flight numbers coming
Beyond this, Hawaiian Airlines’ flight numbers will also change in anticipation for integration into Alaska’s ecosystem. Effective October 26, 2025, Hawaiian will change all its flight numbers to range from 800 through 1299.
A number of international flights will see 4XX numbers switch to 8XX, (e.g. Honolulu – Auckland goes from HA445/446 to HA845/846). U.S. mainland double digit flights will vary between 8XX and 9XX, while inter-island flights within the Hawaiian chain will go from 3XX to something within the 1000-1299 range. These as just some examples of course, but you get the idea.
But why change the flight numbers? On April 22, 2026, the two airlines will switch to a single IATA code. On that day, all Hawaiian flights will shift from “HA” to “AS” flight numbers. The adjusted numbers were chosen as a way to prevent duplicate entries when they do start listing Hawaiian Airlines flights under Alaska’s IATA code. It will also make it simpler as Hawaiian-based flights will still maintain their designated flight numbers.
End of an era
As the two brands move toward an SOC, it marks the end of an era for Hawaiian Airlines as they will be dropping a major part of their history. Operating since 1929, the famous “Hawaiian” and “HA” designators will soon be gone after being in existence for almost 100 years.
From a logistics standpoint, it is understandable why Alaska Airlines would want to simplify its operations, as the SOC will allow them to rotate aircraft across its entire route network rather than limiting them to their traditional Hawaiian or Alaska routes.
Alaska has promised to maintain both liveries, with the exception of their Boeing 787s. These widebodies will be painted in its own special livery to reflect its expansion into newer global markets out of Seattle. The first to wear the new scheme will be delivered in Spring 2026.
I imagine once both brands adopt the “AS” flight number code, it may be initially confusing to some to see an Alaska Airlines flight wearing the Hawaiian Airlines livery.
