HA must like its 717s. It's buying 9 new 767s. Hawaiian is the nation's 12th-largest airline, with 175 daily flights and about 5 million passengers a year. City pairs for the 767s haven't been announced.

I imagine the intention is to replace the widebody trijet (DC-10?) routes with these birds.

I read these 9 763s are in addition to the previous acquisition announcements of 7 763s. 3 are to come from AN and 3 from an insurance company leasing entity.

... nine new Boeing 767-300ER jumbo jets in addition to the seven for which it has already signed agreements.

...financed through long-term lease financing arranged through Boeing Capital Corp. and Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services.

The first of the nine 767-300ERs in the new order is expected in the third quarter of 2002. ... a rate of about one a month, Hawaiian expects to complete the replacement of its long-range fleet by mid-2003 (IOW all DC-10s gone).

... long-range routes: mainland-Hawaii, Hawaii-South Pacific and charter services.

... two aisles and 252 seats -- 18 in first class and 234 in coach.

... options to acquire an additional seven planes.

By 4Q03, HA will have an entirely Boeing fleet.

What do you think about Hawaiian using their new 767s on routes to asia - as hawaii is also a very popular gateaway for asians - so what about honolulu - Tokio, Honolulu - Osaka, or Honolulu - Seol. I believe there is a real potential of flights from Honolulu to Asia.
Or are these routes allready served by northwest in codeshare with hawaiian
In my opinion honolulu would be a nice little hub between the us westcoast and some asian destinations - especially for people who would like to make a short stopover on their way
what do you think about it?

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Over the last few years (especially since the Korean bust of early '97), airlines have been cutting their existing Asia routes. For example, UA used to fly to NRT (2/day) and KIX, and now they only have 1 daily flight to NRT. I think that the tourist fares to/from Japan aren't that profitable for most airlines, and there are already enough Business seats to be had... So, even though it would be nice, I don't think it would be very viable right now for HA to fly to Japan. But you never know...