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…