The largest island in French Polynesia and a part of the world where tourism is significantly set back by its remoteness, Tahiti is served primarily by its flag carrier airline of Air Tahiti Nui, Air France (AFLYY) , and Hawaiian Airlines.
Earlier this month, United Airlines (UAL) revealed plans to increase the frequency of the flight between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Faaʼa International Airport (PPT) in the Tahitian capital of Papeete.
Launched in October 2018, the flight will be increased to daily by the summer of 2026, as spotted in regulatory route requests by aviation tracker Aero Routes.
The flight presently runs five times a year on a Boeing 787-9 (BA) Dreamliner widebody jet, and tourist numbers to Tahiti from North America have increased steadily since nosediving during the Covid pandemic.
The main airline of Tahiti to cut flight from Seattle
Even so, the 263,766 international arrivals visiting Tahiti in 2024 is still a number too low to justify running a large number of flights. As first reported by AirlineGeeks, primary carrier Air Tahiti Nui will run its last flight to Papeete from Seattle on January 31, 2026.
The route to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) was first launched in October 2022 and currently runs twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays.
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The airline had previously sold seats on the flight up until April 2026 and, as confirmed to the outlet, will contact those who paid for tickets on the canceled route with rebooking or refund options.
After the cancellation, the flight between Papeete and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will be the carrier’s only service to the United States. That route has run since 1998 on an Airbus A340-300 (EADSF) , while the Boeing 787-9 used for the Seattle flights has 30 business class, 32 premium economy, and 232 economy class seats.
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Air Tahiti Nui “acknowledges the impact of this decision on travel plans’
“The airline acknowledges the impact of this decision on the travel plans of customers holding reservations on flights scheduled to operate beyond January 31, 2026, and wishes to thank them for their understanding and loyalty,” Air Tahiti Nui said in a statement.
“Customers holding a ticket issued for one of these flights will be offered the choice of rebooking at no additional cost via Los Angeles on dates as close as possible to their original travel dates and in the same travel class […or a] full refund of the issued and unused tickets.”
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Those who booked directly with Air Tahiti Nui will be contacted by the airline, while anyone who booked through a travel company or agent has been told to go through where they made the payment.
Beyond alluding to a network rerouting (the Los Angeles route will continue to run between seven to 11 times a week, depending on the season), Air Tahiti Nui has not commented on the reasons for the cancellation.
However, due to its distance from both North America and Europe, the French Polynesian territory has not experienced the same spike in tourism as other tropical destinations like Jamaica, Aruba and Bali.
Visitor numbers trended steadily upward but have not skyrocketed in a way that would justify flights from different cities for a smaller airline.
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