Browsing Tag: Hawaiian Airlines

It took 9,500 flowers to make this lei for the Hawaiian Airlines A330

It took 9,500 flowers to make this lei for the Hawaiian Airlines A330

Last week I showed a photo of Hawaiian Airline’s brand spanking new Airbus A330 and it had a fancy lei on it. I asked how many flowers do you think it took to make the lei?

Via the comments and people emailing me I received over 60 guesses. They ranged from 330 to 330,200 (both guesses a play off the being an A330, I am guessing) The answer? According to Hawaiian Airlines it took 9,500 dendrobium orchids to make the lei on the Airbus A330. Now that is a lot of flowers.

And who was closest? David Brown. Seriously. But it isn’t me, it is another David Brown (there are a lot of us out there and he has an aviation blog too).  Mr. Brown guessed 9855 flowers, which was closest to 9500. I will be mailing him his prizes. Thank you all for participating!

On June 4th the A330 had its maiden flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles. This is the first of 27 new A330s and A350s that Hawaiian plans to introduce into its fleet over the coming decade. Check out this photo of the A330 being pushed back from its gate at Honolulu.

Hawiian Airlines brand new Airbus A330 next to their first plane, a 1929 Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker

Hawiian Airlines brand new Airbus A330 next to their first plane, a 1929 Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker

GUESSING HAS BEEN CLOSED. I WILL POST THE ANSWERS TOMORROW (JUNE 8th) MORNING. I have locked it down so no more comments can be made.

Hawaiian Airlines is making a big change. They are adding an Airbus A330 to their fleet. On Friday June 4th the first passenger flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles will commence, starting a new era.

The new A330 is named  Makali’˜i for the constellation Pleiades that helped guide ancient Polynesian voyagers across the Pacific.

This is one amazing photo and quite a few things are impressive. What got my attention (besides the fact this is Hawaiian’s newest and oldest aircraft together), is the Airbus A330 has a lei on it.

See it? Those purple/pink flowers right behind the cockpit?  I wrote to Hawaiian PR guy Patrick Dugan and asked, “How many flowers does it take to lei an Airbus A330?” Guess what he told me? No, seriously guess…

CONTEST: How many flowers (they are dendrobium orchids, if that matters) did it take to create the lei (just the lei on the A330, not the stairs or other flowers) seen in the photo (bigger version) on the Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330?

The closest person(s) to the correct answer will win a prize (I have a few you can choose from).  You can leave a comment or you can email me at da***@ai*************.com (don’t worry I am not collecting emails in any fashion). I will give you until Monday June 7th at 5pm PST, then I will give the answer and announce the winner(s)!

Hint? It is a lot more than you think…

Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767-300 (N589HA) at Kahului Airport on Maui

Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767-300 (N589HA) at Kahului Airport on Maui

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents the pilots  of Hawaiian Airlines, started  “informational picketing” today at the interisland terminal of the Honolulu International Airport. Earlier in the month the ALPA opened up a “strategic preparedness center,” near the airport to help coordinate phones and picketing, if no deal can be reached with the airline. This follows two years of unsuccessful talks between the two sides, that seems it might lead to the pilot’s going on strike.

The ALPA stated, “while progress was made, Hawaiian management still insists that any salary increases over 1%, or other contract gains, be paid for by pilots making offsetting concessions elsewhere in the contract. Based on the airline’s outstanding financial performance and the record bonuses management received last year, this lack of substantial movement has forced the pilots to call for a strike authorization vote.”

They have a valid point with profit changes. The current contract was negotiated in 2005 before Hawaiian emerged from bankruptcy and now the airline is making a profit. However, the airline business has volatile ups and downs. One quarter an airline can be in the black, making profit, the next, deep in the red and talking about bankruptcy. If an airline is going to protect itself for the bad times, then yes, it means there will be surplus in the good times.

The ALPA is seeking a 17% salary increase over four years, plus a 2.5% addition to the pension plan for pilots less than 50 years of age. The ALPA states the airline is offering only a 1% increase each year for four years, with possible additional increases in exchange for concessions in other areas.

Hawaiian Airlines’ CEO, Mark Dunkerley, states that the union is “mischaracterizing” the airlines offer and that a strike is not “imminent.” Dunkerley points out that the airline has offered its pilots a 20% increase over six years with profit sharing, for the ability to modify their bidding rules for new routes, allowing the airline to become more competitive.

The back and forth bickering sounds like a typical contract standstill. There are still quite a few steps before the pilots could strike. The union members need to authorize a strike and the government would also need to give the go ahead. Sadly, the people that lose out the most are the passengers, especially those that might be looking for a nice, much needed vacation to Hawaii.

Image: CruisAir