On the surface, it’s a little strange isn’t it? One of the world's most well-connected international air travel markets, Europe, and one of the world's most premium leisure destinations, the US state of Hawaii, lack direct air connectivity. Nonetheless, according to published statistics from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, hundreds of thousands of European travelers visit the islands yearly, flocking to its sunny beaches and pleasant weather. While these two destinations sit thousands of nautical miles apart, in-service commercial aircraft have the appropriate range to connect the island chain and the continent nonstop. Despite these capabilities, no European airlines currently fly from their hubs to Honolulu's Daniel K Inouye International Airport or any other facility on the islands. For today’s video, let’s examine all the reasons why this is the case! Considering the technical capability exists, we would postulate that the hurdles that prevent European airlines from operating flights to Hawaii are economic and logistical rather than technological. The lack of nonstop flights from Europe is emblematic of how the airline industry operates and shows exactly which kind of travelers legacy airlines profit by targeting. Overwhelmingly, legacy airlines make their money on business travelers - that is to say, those who fly with high regularity and consistently purchase expensive tickets in premium cabins. A good example of a strong market for this kind of demand is that between Europe and the United States, in which hundreds of daily transatlantic flights feature some of the most premium products currently on the market. Indeed, if a North American or European carrier has a flagship product or aircraft - there’s a good chance it’ll be deployed transatlantic! European legacy carriers, operating a model that focuses on business or corporate travel, are exactly these kinds of airlines and they almost always need heavy streams of high-paying premium traffic to fill their cabins and profit. But for Hawaiian flights, it’s a significantly different travel demographic… one that is less compatible with the business practices of major European airlines. There is relatively limited business travel between the mainland United States and Hawaii, and the vast majority of it relates either to the tourism industry in the island state or to some of its few major exports. Even fewer business travelers seek efficient non stop connections between Europe and the islands. As a result, most European airlines have shied away from the prospect of serving the Hawaiian islands directly, and American carriers have been quick to snap up the travelers looking to make their way from the continent to the archipelago, most of whom are overwhelmingly traveling for vacation. Those flying for leisure are significantly more price-sensitive and likely to be the type of consumer to choose a flight from Europe to Hawaii that stops halfway through and costs less than a more expensive nonstop journey. With this in mind, there is no shortage of single-stop itineraries between Europe and London, mostly from US carriers like Delta, American, and United. These routings will typically offer a singular connection at one of these major carrier's hub airports along the US West Coast, such as Los Angeles International Airport or San Francisco International Airport. As a result, the economic incentives for airlines like British Airways, Air France, and Lufthansa to fly to Hawaii are extremely weak. To further build the case AGAINST direct, non-stop flights, all three (alongside most others on the continent) are members of major airline alliances - a factor that allows them to simply transfer passengers onto North American partner airlines via West Coast hubs. The discussion of flights between Europe and Hawaii brings up a few interesting points about the nature of ultra-long-haul travel. These flights push the limits of aircraft range capabilities, but also provide even more challenging operating economics. It may seem counterintuitive that aircraft are significantly less fuel efficient on ultra-long-haul flights than on standard ones. While aircraft do burn less fuel while in cruise as opposed to during takeoffs or landings, planes do have to carry more fuel to fly further, which actually increases fuel consumption on a per-passenger-per-mile basis drastically. To put it more succinctly - more fuel is required to handle the weight of...more fuel! A book by esteemed aerospace engineer Antonio Filippone, a member of the faculty at the University of Manchester, explores this relationship in great detail. In his 2012 book Advanced Aircraft Flight Performance, which was published by Cambridge University Press, he analyzes the fuel performance of a Boeing 777-300 over different distances, both with an intermediate stop halfway through and without. The optimal fuel efficiency for this aircraft type is achieved at a distance of just around 2,000 nautical miles, in which fuel consumption per passenger per nautical mile bottoms out at around 0.047 kilograms. But as soon as the range is increased to over 5,000 nautical miles, fuel consumption rises to over 0.052 kilograms per passenger per nautical mile. By stopping halfway through, fuel consumption remains significantly lower. A similar analysis performed for a Boeing 777-200 can be seen HERE, demonstrating a similar phenomenon: Fuel is an airline's largest cost by a large margin, and on longer flights, fuel costs would account for an even larger portion of a passenger's ticket price. Therefore, airline margins begin to shrink even further from their already razor-thin levels, making ultra-long-haul routes even harder to operate in the absence of a reliable stream of business travelers. While this explanation on fuel consumption over long distances may seem like a tangent, it does explain how it’s close to impossible for European airlines to justify operating nonstop routes to Hawaii - the operating economics simply don’t make sense! Even with the newest Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 models, fuel efficiencies do not improve to the point at which these airlines believe flying nonstop would be worth their time over simply connecting passengers with partner carriers along the American West Coast. There were rumors that one airline might begin flying nonstop from Europe to Hawaii in the near future, but it was not a European carrier. A 2016 piece in The Wall Street Journal hinted that Hawaiian Airlines might be considering new nonstop routes to Europe with their Airbus A330neo jets, as per a statement from the airline's chef. However, these plans never materialized, and the airline ended up dropping its A330neo order in favor of the Boeing 787-9. So, hopefully we’ve successfully explained WHY airlines are so reluctant to fly non-stop between Hawaii and the European continent! At the same time, the reasoning can perfectly explain the opposite, and why it makes sense for Singapore Airlines to operate the world’s longest flight between New York and Singapore. Connecting the two global financial hubs with an A350-900ULR makes sense due to heavy business traffic and allows the airline to fly with a premium-only configuration to ensure a healthy profit margin. And so what do you think about all of this? Do you think any airlines will try flying direct from Europe to Hawaii one day? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment! simple flying publishes over 150 articles every week if you're looking for the latest Aviation news and insights visit simple flying.com