Mock up of what Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321NEO will look like. Aircraft image from Airbus.

Mock up of what Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321neo will look like. Aircraft image from Airbus. Can you tell where the background image was taken (it is a real photograph by Brandon Farris).

On Monday Hawaiian Airlines made a big announcement that it was ordering the Airbus A321neo to add to its expanding fleet.

The order is for 16 A321neo’s along with the rights to purchase up to nine more of the type. The carrier currently has 43 aircraft that is a mix of Boeing 767-300ER that it primarily uses on its west coast operations from the islands, the A330-200 used on international long haul ops and the Boeing 717 that it uses for inter-island hopping.

“Everyone at Hawaiian wants us to keep our position as the market leader in service quality, cost efficiency and choice of destinations. Ordering the A321neo will secure this legacy on routes to the U.S. West Coast beyond the middle of this decade,” said Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines. “The A321neo will be the most fuel-efficient aircraft of its type after its introduction in 2016. With its slightly smaller size we’ll be able to open new markets that are not viable for wide-body service, while also being able to augment service on existing routes to the West Coast of North America.”

At 146-feet-long, the A321neo will seat approximately 190 passengers in a two-class configuration (First and Coach) and has a range of 3,650 nautical miles.  Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, however, the aircraft have a total list-price value of approximately $2.8 billion if all of the purchase rights are exercised.

The new acquisitions are also contingent upon Hawaiian signing new agreements with its pilots and flight attendant unions covering operation of the new aircraft type. If new agreements are reached, the fleet expansion is expected to generate roughly 1,000 additional jobs at the airline.

“This is a significant investment in the future of both Hawaiian and Hawaii. Our tourism-based economy and local employment will benefit as we continue our strategy of diversifying our business while improving the efficiency of our operation,” Dunkerley commented.

Expected range for the A321NEO from Hawaii.

This is the current range of the A321 from Hawaii. The A321NEO will add an additional 450 miles.

“We have come to think of Hawaiian Airlines as ‘ohana’ (family) and are very pleased to add yet another branch to our tree with this pending expansion of the Hawaiian Airbus fleet,” said John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer, customers. “Hawaiian has gotten great results with their A330s.”

There is much speculation from analyst and fans where the aircraft will be flown, whether they will take over the current 767 west coast routes or lead to expansion for Hawaiian to operate to new west coast operations. By the time these aircraft join the fleet their 767’s will be around 18 to 20 years old for the leased ones and 30 years with the four that it purchased from Delta in 2005.

Other ideas are this purchase is to keep the A350 and A330-200s free to continue what has been a rather aggressive expansion from the quite airlines on the islands.

This story written by…Brandon Farris, Correspondent. Brandon is an avid aviation geek based in Seattle. He got started in Photography and Reporting back in 2010. He loves to travel where ever he has to to cover the story and try to get the best darn shot possible.

@BrandonsBlog | RightStuffPhotography | Flickr

Classic: Cutaway of an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L1011
2 Comments
Much Ado About Nothing

HA Maintenance hates the scarebuses…way to many parts issues….The way HA management works, nothing is being taken into account switching manufacturers, training, parts, etc… HA is almost 100% reliant on Delta MX now to provide them assistance and parts… The Airbuses are the beginning of the end of HA I am afraid…

Anorexic Elise

I lived in Seattle, Washington, Years Ago, Living There, Was A Bit Of A Shock, All The Way From The Midwest, No Doubt! by the way: I have a Terrorist cyber bully named Producer Lindsay Show, for almost four years now, Who MIGHT Of Been Someone Or Somebody, Who Used To KNOW Me In Seattle, Washington, Years Ago, And Who IS Making ME Doubt MY “Sanity” Over DISCUSSIONS Related To Living In Washington State, Years Ago, When I KNOW I HAVE NOT Discussed Anything About Washington State, Since Moving AWAY From Washington State, Many Years Ago, The SAME Thing My twin sibling Is Accusing Me Of Doing To Her Now, And I Go Out Of My Way, To Make Sure That I DON’T Make My twin sibling, Ever Doubt What She Said To Me Ever, And If I Have, Then I Am Sorry For Making Her Doubt Herself Or Her Sanity, With Me, Because That’s Not A Nice Thing To Do To Other People In This Life…….However, I Am Not Anorexic, And Have Never Been Anorexic, And That Isn’t Nice For My twin sibling To Say That I Am Anorexic, When I’m Not Anorexic, And Have Never Been Anorexic, To The Point I Got The Last Name Of GINGERICH, Legally Changed, Or Started The Legal Process Of Getting The Last Name Of GINGERICH Changed For Myself, Because I Can No Longer SAFELY Or PERSONALLY Have The Last Name Of GINGERICH, I Embarrass My twin sibling Too Much, Sharing The Last Name Of GINGERICH, So The Legal Process Is Done Now……..Really Sad……That twin sibling Have To Fight And Misunderstand Each Other To The Point Of One Of The twin siblings, Having To Get Their Legal Last Name Changed…….Really Depressing…….The World AND Life Are Full Of Enough HATE And INDIFFERENCE, And twin siblings Shouldn’t DO THAT To Each Other, But, Whatever…….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *