News
Hawaiian decides in favour of B787-9 and cancels A330-800 order
March 9th 2018
Airbus this week lost Hawaiian Airlines as the sole customer for the A330-800neo after the Honolulu-based carrier cancelled its contract with Airbus for six of the type and instead ordered 10 B787-9s with purchase rights for another ten of the type. Read More »
The ten B787-9s have a list price of US$2.82 billion and would be its future “flagship airplane for medium to long-haul flights”, the carrier said.
Boeing said its “competitive advantage was enhanced by Boeing Global Services,” where Hawaiian would use a number of new aircraft transition support services, including training and initial provisioning to ensure a successful and on-time entry into service.
Hawaiian was the only airline to order the -800neo. The airline went on record to say would be difficult to retain the order because of anticipated challenges in spare part acquisition and servicing.
The first A330-800neo prototype rolled out of the paint shop on February 5 this year, “on track for its first flight mid-2018,” Airbus said. The base variant will have a 242-tonne maximum take-off weight (MTOW) and a range of 7,500 nautical miles (nm). The recently launched 251-tonne MTOW variant can fly ultra-long-range routes of up to 8,150nm. The rival B787-9 has a range of approximately 7,635nm.
“The Dreamliner's operational efficiency and superior guest experience make it the best aircraft for modernizing our fleet in 2021 and beyond,” said president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, Peter Ingram. “Its expanded seat capacity and extended range allows us to expand our current network and offer new destinations in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.
“Hawaiian Airlines has been on an impressive growth trajectory as it strategically expanded service to and from Asia and North America. We are thrilled they have chosen the 787 Dreamliner to power the next stage of their expansion,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO, Kevin McAllister.
Hawaiian operates a fleet of 24 A330-200s, eight B767-300ERs, 20 B717s and two A321neo, with another 16 of the type on order.
Last week, the airline flagged trouble regarding that latter order and said it had no choice but to cancel two new routes this year in the face of expected Pratt & Whitney (P&W) geared turbofan (GTF)-powered A321neo delivery delays.
The Honolulu-based carrier will no longer offer a second daily Honolulu-San Francisco flight and it will not launch a Kona-Oakland. it has postponed Lihue-Oakland from April 11 to July 15.
“We are still waiting for specific information about when our deliveries will resume,” Ingram told FilghtGlobal this week. “It's still a very fluid situation.”
Airbus has said A320neo/A321neo deliveries could be suspended until April. P&W has developed a fix for the snag and plans to resume GTF deliveries to Airbus in “early March”, it has said.
“We are obviously frustrated that we have delays right now,” Ingram said. “We are actively communicating with the airframe and engine manufacturing.” In the Asia-Pacific region, Hawaiian flies to Auckland, Beijing, Brisbane, Fukuoka, Manila, Sapporo, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei and Tokyo.
