Maui’s Hook Begins Service for Hawaiian

Hawaiian Airlines newest aircraft, the 294-seat Airbus A330-200, is seen flying above Hawaii.(PRNewsFoto/Hawaiian Airlines, Chad Slattery)

By Sonia Isotov

Hawaiian Airlines has added a sixth new Airbus A330-200 to its fleet named Manaiakalani, or Maui’s hook, the Hawaiian name for the constellation of Scorpio.

It is the first of four new A330s to join the fleet in the first half of this year. All of Hawaiian’s new A330s are named for a constellation or star used for celestial navigation by the ancient Polynesians in making their voyages across the Pacific to Hawaii.

The 294-seat A330 began service operating one of Hawaiian’s daily flights between Los Angeles and Honolulu on March 13, just three days after flying nonstop for more than 8,200 miles and 17 hours from the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France, to Honolulu.

“Next month we will transition to A330 aircraft for our Osaka and Sydney routes, and just six weeks after that, we will launch our new nonstop service to JFK Airport in New York with our A330 aircraft,” said Mark Dunkerley, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Airlines.

Hawaiian’s other three A330s joining the fleet this year will be delivered one per month in April, May, and June. The new A330s will add capacity to Hawaiian’s daily nonstop service between Osaka-Honolulu starting March 31 and Sydney-Honolulu starting April 24 and will be used to operate New York-Honolulu service commencing June 5.

Along with the nine A330 aircraft that will be in Hawaiian’s fleet by the end of June, the company is taking delivery of 13 additional A330s between 2013 and 2015.