Hawaiian Airlines Celebrates Oneworld Membership and Unveils a Special Livery in Honolulu

It’s been an exciting couple of years for Hawaiian Airlines. Its merger with Alaska Airlines was completed several months ago, and the airlines are now a single carrier, though each retains its distinct brand and identity.

The carriers now share the new Atmos Rewards program, and now are both members of the Oneworld alliance, with Hawaiian officially joining in April of this year.

On June 30, 2026, the airline hosted a celebration in the hangar at its home base at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) to commemorate its Oneworld membership, discuss its importance to the alliance and its future, and unveil a special new Oneworld livery that will be flying soon from Hawaii to the world.

Upgraded Points got the chance to attend the event in person. Here’s what the celebrations were like and what we learned about Hawaiian’s future as a Oneworld carrier.

Hawaiian Unveils a Special Oneworld Alliance Livery

Hawaiian Airlines hosted members of the media, employees, and executives across several Oneworld carriers to celebrate its full membership in the alliance, which it officially joined in April.

Hosted in its hangar at its Honolulu hub, the event was also meant to showcase a special Oneworld livery featuring a new phrase in the Hawaiian language, Aloha a puni ka honua, which translates to “aloha all around the world.”

Many flyers may not even notice the updated livery, which maintains its iconic Pualani graphic on the tail and the maile lei around the fuselage. But for the airline, it’s a massive step forward in raising its profile around the world.

Hawaiians are proud of their homeland’s rich history, its people’s storied culture, and its legacy of hospitality. Joining a major alliance like Oneworld allows the airline to make an impression on far more people globally and bring more people to the Hawaiian Islands, which ultimately is the airline’s core purpose.

Unfortunately, the aircraft was held up in the paint shop and isn’t expected to arrive in Honolulu until next week, but the airline showed off a rendering of the Airbus A330 with the special livery at the event, and passengers can look forward to flying it very soon on the airline’s international and/or transpacific domestic routes.

Hawaiian’s Place in Oneworld

In its 96-year history, this year marks the first time Hawaiian Airlines has ever been part of an airline alliance. Despite its A330 with the special livery not being physically present, there was much to take in.

The airline has a clear sense of its history, identity, and purpose: representing the Hawaiian Islands — one of the planet’s most beautiful places — on the global stage. It believes its membership in the Oneworld alliance has given it a much larger platform to bring the aloha spirit to more and more people across the globe.

After enjoying lunch and refreshments, attendees heard a panel discussion hosted by a number of executives from across the alliance, including Diana Birkett Rakow, CEO of Hawaiian Airlines; Ole Orvér, CEO of Oneworld; Ross Leggett, senior vice president of route marketing at Japan Airlines; Michelle Girkinger, vice president of global alliances and partnerships at Fiji Airways; Jeff Ogar, head of partnerships at American Airlines; and Christoph Gaertner, vice president of revenue management and alliances at Philippine Airlines.

The discussion centered around how Hawaiian, now combined with Alaska Airlines, is a perfect fit for the Oneworld alliance, thanks to its unique and advantageous geography, its strong brand identity not only for Hawaii residents but for all of those who live in the larger Pacific region, and the enduring popularity of Hawaii as a premier destination for travelers across the globe.

What Can Flyers Expect?

Panelists stressed the importance of Hawaiian flyers — and members of the Atmos Rewards program — having a “consistent, seamless, and premium” experience on all Oneworld journeys, regardless of which carriers are involved.

Practically, not much has changed for Hawaiian flyers since the former HawaiianMiles program was jettisoned and members were transitioned into the Atmos Rewards program. That’s because Alaska has been a Oneworld member for quite some time.

However, those who are loyal to another Oneworld carrier can now take advantage of the combined Alaska and Hawaiian and access perks on flights provided by either carrier.

Flyers with Oneworld elite status can leverage their status to access perks on Hawaiian Airlines flights, depending on the tier. For example, Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members can get access to a laundry list of perks including access to Alaska and Hawaiian lounges, priority check in, priority baggage handling, priority boarding, a more generous baggage allowance, and more.

Perhaps more exciting, though, is the fact that flyers can now earn and redeem the Oneworld currency of their choice on Hawaiian’s global network of flights. Previously, Hawaiian had individual partnerships with numerous airlines, but joining Oneworld has made everything far easier and opened up Hawaiian’s unique route network to much more of the world.

For example, you’re able to redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles — a Oneworld partner currency — for Hawaiian’s nonstop flight between New York (JFK) and Honolulu.

And for flyers whose preferred airline is Hawaiian, joining the Oneworld alliance makes it easier to connect to far more destinations worldwide, thanks to the alliance’s collection of major hubs around the world in places like Sydney (SYD), Tokyo (HND and NRT), London (LHR), Doha (DOH), and many more.

The Reputation and Value Proposition of Atmos Rewards Remains Foundational to the Combined Alaska and Hawaiian

While attending the event in Honolulu, Upgraded Points had the opportunity to speak briefly with a number of executives from across the alliance, including Hawaiian Airlines’ CEO, Diana Birkett Rakow.

We discussed the importance of the Atmos Rewards program, especially in the context of how treasured it’s been among award travelers over the years. She acknowledged how critical it is not just to the airline but also the members who rely on it.

She mentioned how Alaska and Hawaiian both have a history of being carriers that are deeply tied to their home markets, which happen to be places where communities rely on air service to be connected to the larger world.

She said, “Our airlines growing up in these places that are so dependent on air service, I think makes us really appreciate our loyal guests … they’re also our friends and neighbors and family … and that’s how we want to treat them. That’s sort of the ethos behind it and why maintaining value is such a strong part of the calculation.”

When the 2 airlines combined, the new loyalty program was to be central to the carriers new identity. They each had a very loyal but very different customer base, and the new program had to improve on the previous offerings to retain each carrier’s loyal customers.

Alaska’s former Mileage Plan program had a huge fan base, thanks to its unique perks and favorable redemption rates on partner airlines, while the HawaiianMiles program was deeply entrenched in the local community. It served an important role of allowing Hawaii residents to be connected to the continental U.S. and further afield.

The new loyalty program didn’t want to gut any of the unique elements that made each program great, so it worked to improve both of them in the new Atmos Rewards program. We believe it largely succeeded in this effort, despite the program not implementing what’s perhaps its core feature: the ability for to choose how they earn miles and qualify for elite status.

Otherwise, the new Atmos Rewards program has made meaningful improvements over the former separate programs, and it offers perks that are unique among U.S. carriers. For example, top-tier Atmos Titanium members are eligible to get complimentary same-day upgrades, all the way up to international business class, for not only them, but also a companion, with no separate upgrade mechanism such as points or certificates requiried.

Unlike many other airline loyalty programs, which have been gutted in recent years due to harsh devaluations and a dumbing-down of perks, Atmos Rewards retains a lot of the features that made the Mileage Plan program so loved while simultaneously making improvements that will continue to keep customers engaged in the program.

Final Thoughts

Hawaiian Airlines has been a member of the Oneworld alliance for just a couple of months now, and it had a big party in Honolulu to celebrate this important moment in the airline’s history.

While we didn’t get to see it in the flesh, an Airbus A330 with a special Oneworld livery will soon begin flying long-haul domestic and international routes for the carrier, which is eager to bring its Hawaiian spirit and hospitality to much more of the world.