Dan Webb

I was originally going to post about the new agreement between Continental and Expressjet, but both Cranky Flier and Planebuzz have good articles on that news item, so why be redundant? So instead I’m sharing another, less important story that caught my interest.

Today in the Sky reported yesterday that Hawaiian will be adding four more Boeing 717s (leased from Boeing Capital) to their fleet for inter-island flights by the end of this year, bringing the total 717 fleet to fifteen aircraft. While four aircraft may not seem like a lot, it is a good number of seats for the inter-island market and it is also somewhat refreshing to read an announcement about fleet growth after the the press releases about capacity cuts from American, United, and Continental.

Obviously Aloha’s withdrawal from passenger service increases load factors for Hawaiian as the two carriers had similar routes from the West Coast and within the islands themselves. ATA’s closure also helps Hawaiian, though to a lesser extent (no inter-island flights, for example).

So who’s left in the inter-island market? Well there’s Mesa’s go!, Mokulele Airlines (which operates some flights for Mesa under the name go!express), Island Air, and Pacific Wings. Hawaiian has a big advantage over these carriers because they have long haul flights feeding into their inter-island flights. The only advantages these smaller carriers have is that they fly to some of the smaller airports Hawaiian doesn’t touch. It will be interesting to see what happens with go!, as it’s parent company, Mesa, is having major issues right now. In fact, Planebuzz reports today that the company’s CFO has left quickly and mysteriously.

Today in the Sky also states that Hawaiian is actually hiring people, which is fantastic news considering the current condition of the industry. Also, many of the new employees are former workers for Aloha, so it’s nice to hear that those people have jobs again.