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HONOLULU – February 16, 2010 - Hawaiian Airlines today took a significant step toward expanding its international route network by filing an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for approval to introduce nonstop flights between Honolulu and Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport. If approved, the new service would start in late October.
Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and CEO, said, “This new service combining the convenience of Haneda with Hawaiian Airlines’ award winning service would offer a new, superior travel product that will increase travel to Hawaii from Japan.”
The new route is in keeping with Hawaiian’s long-term vision to expand its service in Asia and create new economic and cultural opportunities for Hawaii. Japan is Hawaii’s second-largest market for visitors and has strong cultural ties with the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiian’s daily service between Haneda and Honolulu would provide a boost to Hawaii’s tourism industry by stimulating revenue and job growth, and supporting new and existing businesses statewide.
Hawaiian is proposing twice-daily flights on the new Honolulu-Tokyo route starting in late October. Hawaiian’s convenient daily flight schedule is designed to meet the needs of travelers originating from the Tokyo area, with departures following a full day of work and dinner, and mid-day arrivals in time for hotel check-in and a first afternoon in Hawaii.
Both of Hawaiian’s proposed daily flights would depart Haneda shortly before midnight and arrive in Honolulu around noon the same day. The return flights would both depart Honolulu around 6:45 p.m. and arrive at Haneda around 10:00 p.m. the next day. (Tokyo is 19 hours ahead of Honolulu and the flight crosses the International Dateline.)
Hawaiian plans to serve the Honolulu-Tokyo route with its 264-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, and new 294-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, the first three of which will join the fleet in April, May and November of this year.
Located near Tokyo’s population center, Haneda International Airport is far more convenient to Tokyo travelers than Narita International Airport, which is located approximately 40 miles from the city center. Previously used only for domestic and regional air service, the airport is building a new runway enabling non-stop flights to the U.S. Hawaiian is seeking two of the four operating rights made available in recent bilateral talks between Japan and the U.S.
Hawaiian has been ranked as the nation’s #1 carrier for quality of service in two of the past three years by the nationally recognized Airline Quality Rating study, and also has been the nation’s #1 on-time airline for six straight years (2004-2009) according to DOT records. Last year, the company reported net income of $116.7 million, an especially strong performance in a down year for the airline industry.
In addition, Hawaiian has extensive experience in serving the Japan market, having been the largest provider of charter service between the U.S. and Japan in the 1980s and early 1990s. Hawaiian also offers a Japanese language website, and opened its first sales office in Tokyo in 1973 and continues to maintain a sales presence there.
Hawaiian is the nation’s highest-ranked carrier for service quality and performance in 2008 in the 19
th annual Airline Quality Rating study. Hawaiian has also led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past six years (2004-2009) and has been an industry leader in fewest misplaced bags during that same period (#1 from 2005-2007, #2 in 2008 and 2009) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and Zagat have all ranked Hawaiian the top domestic airline serving Hawaii.
Now in its 81st year of continuous service for Hawaii, Hawaiian is the state’s biggest and longest-serving airline, as well as the largest provider of passenger air service to Hawaii from the state’s primary visitor markets on the U.S. mainland. Hawaiian offers nonstop service to Hawaii from more U.S. gateway cities (10) than any other airline, as well as service to the Philippines, Australia, American Samoa, and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides more than 150 daily jet flights between the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com.
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