Hawaiian Airlines took delivery of its fourth new Airbus A330-200 from the factory last Tuesday and already put it to work on its first commercial flight three days later on Friday, April 15.
This latest addition to Hawaiian’s fleet is one of two new A330s to be delivered to the airline this year. Hawaiian is scheduled to take delivery of three more of the 294-seat wide-body aircraft in 2012, three in 2013, three in 2014 and two more in 2015.
Hawaiian’s new A330s will continue to serve the company’s busiest routes between Honolulu and Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the coming months before being introduced to international service later this year.
The new A330 is named Hanaiakamalama, which is the Hawaiian name for the Southern Cross constellation. (Hawaii is the only state from which the Southern Cross can be seen in the night sky and it is believed that ancient Polynesians used the constellation in the southern hemisphere to navigate their way to the Hawaiian Islands.) All of Hawaiian’s new A330s are named for a constellation or star used by Polynesian voyagers for celestial navigation.
Hawaiian took delivery of Hanaiakamalama from the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France, and flew the aircraft nonstop to Los Angeles this past Wednesday.
Notably, Hanaiakamalama is the first A330 that Hawaiian has received in a purchase agreement from Airbus. Financing is being provided by KfW IPEX-Bank, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale, and Natixis Transport Finance. Hawaiian’s first three A330s were acquired through leases.
Hawaiian plans to introduce up to 32 new Airbus aircraft into its fleet by the end of the decade. In addition to the four A330s already in the fleet, Hawaiian has confirmed agreements in place to acquire 13 more A330s and six A350XWB-800 (Extra Wide-Body) aircraft (starting in 2017), along with purchase rights for an additional three A330s and six A350s.
For more information, visit www.hawaiianairlines.com.