azj

https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/A321neo


HA unveiled the interior for the 321neo today at a trade show in Germany. Well done HAL!

waddy

no surprises except for the streaming entertainment.

I wonder if they roll that out fleet wide. I wouldn't mind being able to watch inter island.

eeflyer

The interior definitely has the HA touch to them. I'm curious how the tablet holders in the seat backs are supposed to work when the person in front of you is reclining. It's also interesting that they've been retrofitting a330s with lie-flats, but they won't be outfitting these with them.

What routes are these supposed to be deployed on anyway? It doesn't seem to replace anything in the current fleet, so is it supposed to be a supplement for new routes? 717s interisland, 767/a330s for longer routes with high demand, 321neos for longer routes with less demand?

747FC

Those slimline F seats look beautiful. And, they look like they will be very uncomfortable on a 5-6 hour flight. Hope I am wrong on that appraisal.

Kumulani

Not really a surprise that these won't have lie-flats. The A330 will be more focused on longer-haul flights which have more demand for lie-flats. The A321neo will only be on shorter flights, so they're leaving them out to cut costs. This brings HA in line with the competition, where lie-flats are rare on west coast flights but common on longer ones.

The 767s are being retired so they will replace those. They might replace A330s on some less cargo-heavy west coast routes. Finally they will be used to add new direct flights to neighbor islands. They will not be used for interisland, the A321 is way too big for that and not optimized for high frequency ultra-short flights like the 717 is.

eeflyer

Cool, thanks for the reply. I guess I can see how unlikely it would be for someone to want to sleep on a 5 hour trip to the mainland. It would be a plus to have on the HNL-LAX redeye, but that wouldn't be in the airline's best interests.

N830MH

Well, you can do stretch your legs. Try to walks the cabin. You shouldn't worried about your flight. You will be just fine.

SST

Neo Single-aisle planes for West Coast routes: well, they certainly wasted a lot of advertising over the past few years telling us Californians how we deserved a jumbo jet (unlike Alaska's 737s and the various 320s and 757's) and we ought to fly Hawaiian.

This pitch has gone on for some time; now, HA will be flying pint-sized metal to the islands, too. If that was their plan, hope they fire whomever thought up the whole big plane campaign. What a waste!

Kumulani

A330 service to the west coast isn't going away, they will still have more widebodies than the competition.

davidsfo

Does it appear that HA will keep the 45 inch pitch in First on the 321s? Right now, HA's pitch in First on its 330s and 767s is head and shoulders above the competition.

HA/UA_Flyer

I'm banking on deliveries being later. Looks like Pratt & Whitney is having issues with their new Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines on the A320neo. This is the engine that HA chose for their A321neo. It is widely reported that Spirit Airlines has been parking their A320neo's due to GTF engine issues. IIRC, another airline in Asia is limiting their GTF A320neo's to 30,000 operating altitude. I'm sure HA is monitoring the engine situation very closely, but I am willing to bet that they wished they would have gone with the CFM LEAP engine instead.

On another note, from the pictures of the interior it looks like HA has opted for the new larger pivot style bins like what Airbus uses for the A350. I think Delta right now is one of the only airlines that has these new bins on their new delivery A321's and those aren't even neos.

azj

Indeed, HA is monitoring the situation. Deliveries have already slipped from July to "Fall 2017" and could slip further. HA will actually operat ethe higher thrust version of what is on the 320neo at the moment, a version that has yet to be certified. Curiously, the issues the Pratt engines are having are with the current technology, not the new GTF technology.

HA is on the record saying the LEAP engine wouldn't have met the fuel burn and efficiency needs it is looking for. So, I don't think there will be a change of engine manufacturer at this point.

These planes are going to be a few months late... a glitch, in the grand scheme of things, considering the first 380 and 787 deliveries were YEARS behind schedule. Though, this glitch is definitely throwing a wrench into the plans for HA.

Longboater

I know this isn't exactly about the A321 NEO interiors but HAL announced in their quarterly earnings call today that the first A321 NEO will be delivered in October, assuming no further delays from Pratt and Whitney. However, it won't be until the first quarter of next year, after ETOPS certification and several other induction certifications, when the aircraft will enter commercial service. According to the annual report released in February, HAL is scheduled to receive three A321 NEOs in the fourth quarter of this year and eight next year, two more than previously planned, as HAL will be retiring the remaining seven 767-300ERs next year. (The sole 767-300 will be retired late this year and replaced by one more A330-200.)

Kumulani

The reason HA only has one flight per day is the A330! The A321neo will allow them to increase frequency. The whole reason they bought it was to be more competitive with Alaska and other airlines with narrowbodies.

Also, the existence of lie flats on almost all the A330s is a very recent development. I doubt the A321neo product will be worse than the product HA has already been sending to the west coast for years on the 767 and A330.

Cymba

Maybe, but if the footrest is attached to the seat in front its is a show stopper (or, more specifically, a pain in the back ) for me and would be without a doubt the worst F design out there.