Hawaiian Adding A321 Neos? Didn't See That One Coming...

[Dan Roman]

Thanks Dan.

I believe what my gut says is at least 25% of your flight is made of connects you don't know are connecting. Even though your departure times don't add up to a direct connect, it's easy for folks to arrive the night before and either get a room or wait in the airport. I know this because we bring folks in all the time who are happy to be going to the islands and will be doing one of the two I mentioned.

I think there is way more to the Kelly friendship than you realize. Either of us realize. Two completely different operations are exactly what merger folks look to to increase the synergies of each.

Well. if they couldn't come up with a codeshare that worked I think it's a safe bet that a merger would be pretty far fetched!

While merging with Hawaiian is always on peoples fun to start rumor list, the reality is something completely different. Even the most realistic option, Delta, was put to rest by none other than Lee Moak. We are a pure discretionary traveler airline. We really don't bring much to the table for anyone else. Like I said we only work as Hawaiian Air to Hawaii.

As far as SWA is concerned, now nothing personal Score!, but that's a real long shot. Number one, if all of a sudden they thought they should become a Intl long haul AirBus operator in the Pacific they would be straying so far from their core business plan it would be ridiculous. They would be trying to turn themselves into a mini USAir, a domestic route structure with a smaller than the competition Intl route structure. They would really be sticking their necks out. In addition and again, nothing personal, but SWA's proven track record in mergers would absolutely make it impossible for the deal to be considered. With out going into a long drawn out explanation, SWA would not be allowed in the State pulling what they did to AirTran in Hawaii. It would be a whole different arena. Suffice to say, with over 5000 employees at Hawaiian, there is enough people at Hawaiian that know a lot more people that could do some serious damage to any attempt at a takeover.

Keep in mind that Hawaii's economy is doing very well because tourism is so strong. The number one reason tourism is so strong is because of the amount of airline seats that has been added. AK filled the void that AQ and ATA left, and HA has largely been responsible for the big increase from Asia, Australia and even the East Coast. The State will not let what Hawaiian has planned for growth go away, it would hurt the economy too much if, as in all mergers, the disappearing airline got cherry picked and discarded for the benefit of a mainland airline.

 

[Jim]

ScoreboardII - to add to what Dan said about codesharing with SWA. I asked Dunkerely when he was in my cockpit about it when it was a hot topic 3 or 4 years ago. Dunkerley said we did not need the codeshare to fill our planes so it didn't make any sense. He said it would be basically giving money to SWA with no real payback for Hawaiian.

 

[Full of LUV]

Again, and I've seen an investor presentation that says this, Hawaiian's business plan is to simply fly into cities that are large enough to support enough traffic locally that want to buy a ticket to Hawaii. The Hawaiian name and image is a powerful marketing tool. The only other airline that could compete in that area was of course, Aloha. No mainland carrier has that option. A good example of that at work is SNA to Hawaii. Aloha killed it in that market, it was their strongest mainland market and grew to multiple daily flights. CO jumped in and didn't do well at all, they dropped it.

That is interesting cause Aloha HI to mainland experience was closer to CO's than HAL's..... Are you saying the name/brand carried the day over the inflight experience?

 

[Dan Roman]

That is interesting cause Aloha HI to mainland experience was closer to CO's than HAL's..... Are you saying the name/brand carried the day over the inflight experience?

Yes, because while AQ may not have been up to what's currently being offered by HA, it was still a relatively authentic "Hawaii" type service.

 

[labbats]

With the 717 flying so many legs per day will that be affected by the upcoming rest/duty rules? Great company over there. Keep it up.

 

[HA25]

With the 717 flying so many legs per day will that be affected by the upcoming rest/duty rules? Great company over there. Keep it up.

It could. In my case I have a deal where Im working 8 days in a row, but after my 6th day of early morning "am" trips I flip over to "pm" trips for the last two pairings with literally 24 hours off. I don't know how your acclimating timezone thing will view that. After all there is 24 hours off, but adjusting from waking up at 230-3am to staring your day at 4pm and working until 1200am with in 24 hours goes to the core of the new rules.

 

[fly4surf]

I thought it would be more of a calendar day thing too with 36 hours off in 7 days?
Instead of 24?

So what you are doing would no longer be possible?

 

[HA25]

I thought it would be more of a calendar day thing too with 36 hours off in 7 days?
Instead of 24?

So what you are doing would no longer be possible?

I guess. I honestly don't know.

 

[727gm]

My condolences to Hawaiian pilots having to eventually fly...er, operate the A-321....Very sad that Boeing didn't create a 727- or 757-like airframe that was fast in cruise, slow in approach speeds, had actual cargo and cockpit space(and gear doors).

 

[HA25]

My condolences to Hawaiian pilots having to eventually fly...er, operate the A-321....Very sad that Boeing didn't create a 727- or 757-like airframe that was fast in cruise, slow in approach speeds, had actual cargo and cockpit space(and gear doors).

you got time in the Airbus?