Aussies could soon experience a new way to fly to Hawaii with Hawaiian Airlines hoping to being their new flagship 787-9 Dreamliner Down Under.
The move was mentioned during celebrations held in Sydney last night to mark 20 years since HA began flying to Australia. The colourful ‘Pau Hana’ was staged to thank industry friends for their valued support.
The airline’s inaugural Dreamliner flight took place in April from Honolulu to San Francisco with a second service operating to Los Angeles.
Hawaiian has 12 787-9s on order and airline executives are now keen to bring their new plane to Sydney.
“We have two of them flying around and we’re really excited to bring that new product with our Leihōkū Suites business class, offering a really immersive Hawaiian experience through the cabin,” said Avi Mannis, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.
“I’m hopeful that it’s an aircraft we’ll see in this market at some point in the near future as we think it’s a really terrific flagship aircraft.”
Mr Mannis said the other new development the airline was excited about was the deployment of Starlink internet connectivity.
“We’re rolling it out across all of our fleet – it’ll be on our A330 fleet in the months to come. I think it will be transformational in the ability to have fast, totally free, totally seamless internet connectivity on your flights between Sydney and Honolulu, and then Honolulu and the rest of our network.”
Mr Mannis also touched on the proposed $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian by Alaskan Airlines which is due to be confirmed in August.
“That is something that we think is an important next step in the progression of our business after 95 years.
“It is something that will bring more network reach, bringing together two highly complementary networks, a combined loyalty program that will be even more relevant, and something that we think will create value for our consumers and guests everywhere, but also in this market.”
Andrew Stanbury, Managing Director – International and North America Sales, said that Australia was one of Hawaiian Airlines’ first overseas destinations and in the last 10 years they have carried more than one million Aussies to and from Hawaii.
“It is wonderful to be able to celebrate such a milestone. 20 years is a pretty significant achievement. But it’s especially pleasing to think we’re celebrating this knowing that we’ve got so many other great developments coming up as well.”
A special presentation was made on the night to Kathy Maynard, Hawaiian Airlines Station Manager at Sydney Airport, who has been with the company since day one in Australia.
Darragh Walshe, The Walshe Group, Andrew Stanbury, Avi Mannis, Kathy Maynard, Debbie Nākānelua-Richards, Director – Community Relations
Mr Mannis added that many of the industry partners who had helped make the Hawaii-Australia route a success were present in the room.
“Over the ensuing years they helped us to make this market, no longer a developmental market, but a mature market, a strong market, one that has contributed importantly to the success of Hawaiian Airlines, but also to our growth internationally.”
