Hawaiian adding new planes to its fleet

HONOLULU - At 1:32 p.m. Thursday, Hawaiian Airlines dispatched its new Boeing 717-200 on its first flight to Maui. All 118 seats were filled.

It is the first of four new 717s that will be added to Hawaiian's interisland fleet, with more coming one a month from November through January.

President Mark Dunkerley said: "We are committed to keeping passenger traffic moving between the islands as conveniently as possible and adding these four B717s will allow us to provide our customers with more flight choices."

It will also allow Hawaiian to replace the widebody Boeing 767-300 that it rushed into service to help make up for the lack of interisland seats when Aloha Airlines failed in April.

The 767 was very expensive to operate on short-haul flights.

When the last of the four planes arrives, Hawaiian will have 15 717s, each with 118 to 123 seats.

By the end of the year, Hawaiian will have added 110 interisland round-trip flights per week to its current service schedule from Honolulu to the Neighbor Islands, as follows: Lihue will get 40 more flights per week, Kahului 27, Kona 25 and Hilo 18.

Most new flights will run in the busy morning and afternoon slots.

"By scheduling these new daily flights when demand is at its peak, we can provide more service at times when travelers prefer to fly between our islands," said Dunkerley.