Hawaii-based Airlines - A Few Questions About Inter-Island Flights/Airlines

I have a few questions which seem random but whatever.1) what Hawaiian airline is your favorite? 2) what are the biggest routes interisland (passenger)? 3) what are the biggest routes from the islands to destinations off the island. Sorry for the bunched text... I'm posting from an iPhone.

1) HA of course for me....always was, always will be.
2) I would guess HNL-OGG followed by either HNL-LIH or HNL-KOA
3) I would guess HNL-LAX overall given HA, UA, AA, DL/NW and CO all fly this route. For HA specifically, I would say HNL-LAS is the largest most popular route for the obvious reason of Hawaii's love for Las Vegas.

I have a few questions which seem random but whatever.1) what Hawaiian airline is your favorite? 2) what are the biggest routes interisland (passenger)? 3) what are the biggest routes from the islands to destinations off the island. Sorry for the bunched text... I'm posting from an iPhone.
(1) Hawaiian is my favorite. It used to be Aloha when I did a lot of flying with them awhile back.

(2) The largest interisland route is HNL-OGG.

Little known fact: HNL-OGG is one of the busiest routes in the nation and according to this article (pre-Aloha shut down), the 5th busiest in the world in 2006. http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2006/09/and_the_worlds_.html

(3) Biggest routes from the islands to the destinations is to LAX, hands down. There's more seats going to LAX than anywhere else from HNL, domestically. Internationally, it's NRT from HNL.

(1) Hawaiian is my favorite. It used to be Aloha when I did a lot of flying with them awhile back.

(2) The largest interisland route is HNL-OGG.

Little known fact: HNL-OGG is one of the busiest routes in the nation and according to this article (pre-Aloha shut down), the 5th busiest in the world in 2006. http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2006/09/and_the_worlds_.html

(3) Biggest routes from the islands to the destinations is to LAX, hands down. There's more seats going to LAX than anywhere else from HNL, domestically. Internationally, it's NRT from HNL.

So it sounds like Hawaiian is pretty much the consensus favorite amongst Hawaiian airlines. Right?

When Aloha was around, was is pretty split amongst hawaiian residents for their favorite (between Hawaiian and Aloha) or was it more one-sided?

So it sounds like Hawaiian is pretty much the consensus favorite amongst Hawaiian airlines. Right?

When Aloha was around, was is pretty split amongst hawaiian residents for their favorite (between Hawaiian and Aloha) or was it more one-sided?
Passenger count wise, IIRC, it was Aloha that had the lead probably in the 90s then Hawaiian took over and never looked back.

I used to be a loyal Aloha Airlines flyer until the went bankrupt. Now I'm a Diamond member with Hawaiian and love the fact that they upgrade Diamond members to First Class (interisland) on a space available basis. Aloha used to do this when they had FC, but they took out all the FC seats aabout 2 years before going under. I'm very satisfied with Hawaiian :)

When I was growing up, choice of airline was very much like choice of automaker. Just as if you were either a GM or Ford household, you were an Aloha or Hawaiian flyer. I'd say I flew Aloha about 95% of the time and felt somehow guilty the times I flew Hawaiian. Even I had to admit that Hawaiian was a superior airline from a customer experience standpoint from the 90's onward until Aloha's demise last year.

There was long ago another factor in the Hawaiian-Aloha competition that people don't like to talk about, but was relevant to the 50s and 60s. Aloha was founded by a Chinese group, and many local Asians preferred Aloha because they received condescending service from Hawaiian which was haole-owned. It's not just a Ford and GM thing: for neighbor-island Chinese like my parents and grandparents, it was a way of escaping petty racism. This was really glossed over in the news about Aloha's demise, and of course it vanished by the 70s. But it was not all sweetness and light in HI. I myself preferred Hawaiian once they got the new 717s since AQ (TS) ran those scary 732s.

There was long ago another factor in the Hawaiian-Aloha competition that people don't like to talk about, but was relevant to the 50s and 60s. Aloha was founded by a Chinese group, and many local Asians preferred Aloha because they received condescending service from Hawaiian which was haole-owned. It's not just a Ford and GM thing: for neighbor-island Chinese like my parents and grandparents, it was a way of escaping petty racism. This was really glossed over in the news about Aloha's demise, and of course it vanished by the 70s. But it was not all sweetness and light in HI. I myself preferred Hawaiian once they got the new 717s since AQ (TS) ran those scary 732s.
When AQ shut down, there was a lot of talk about the beginnings of Aloha and there was mention of why the airline was started, how it was called the "People's Airline," and how it catered to the local Asian population. So I don't think it wasn't all too hidden when AQ started.

That's another reason, I M H O, that makes AQ's demise even more somber for a lot of local folks. While it's true that AQ's own management was a factor in the fall of the airline, the fact that a "haole"-owned airline from the Mainland that couldn't learn to play Hawaii-style came in and knocked AQ to the ground was a serious insult, given AQ's history as being an airline to rise up against the alleged haole prejudices.

Yes there was some coverage in local press about Aloha's role, but I did not see discussion of Hawaiian's discriminatory practices in the 30s and 40s. I have only family and friends accounts to go by, but they tell stories about Asians and locals boarding after whites, etc. Post-Saidians might argue that this was about class as much as race, etc. Locals don't like to dwell on the past and it's only recently that I heard about these events. It's like some older Asian locals refuse to read the Advertiser -- for its misbehaviors in the past, even though the owners have changed.

There was long ago another factor in the Hawaiian-Aloha competition that people don't like to talk about, but was relevant to the 50s and 60s. Aloha was founded by a Chinese group, and many local Asians preferred Aloha because they received condescending service from Hawaiian which was haole-owned. It's not just a Ford and GM thing: for neighbor-island Chinese like my parents and grandparents, it was a way of escaping petty racism. This was really glossed over in the news about Aloha's demise, and of course it vanished by the 70s. But it was not all sweetness and light in HI. I myself preferred Hawaiian once they got the new 717s since AQ (TS) ran those scary 732s.

Absolutely correct. Growing up in Kailua in the late 1950's and 1960's, the old "TPA Aloha Airlines" was founded by Chinese-Americans. The "TPA" stood for Trans Pacific Airlines, and the original business plan was for flights to Asia as well as inter-island. In those days, Aloha had a fleet of DC3 Viewliners (elongated windows great for taking pictures from), which ultimately gave way to F-27's and Viscounts; Hawaiian had some DC3's and Convair 340's.

Despite what people may say, Hawaii has a long history of racist tendencies (not only haole-Asian, but also the other way round, especially since statehood). That's one reason Hawaii generally votes Democratic - the governors prior to statehood were appointed by the President and were always caucasian.


Jeff

Jeffhacker, Did you ride in an Aloha DC3 Viewmaster? How totally cool. Aloha had unusual foreign aircraft, as you say. I loved the F27s, plus Viscounts and later BAC-111s.
HA used DC3s on milk runs to Hana, Molokai, and Lanai. As a kid, I flew from OGG to Lanai and Kaunakakai on a DC3. In the 60s Hawaiian also flew a DC-6B and a couple of Viscounts, and they later retrofitted the Convairs with turboprops. Miss the sound of turboprops in HI.

I can't think of anything cooler than riding a DC-3 inter-island.

I can't think of anything cooler than riding a DC-3 inter-island.

I'm too young to have ever flown on a tail dragger but I think it would be cool. Maybe one day at a fly-in or something. :)