Hawaiian Airlines executives expect big cost savings from the company's incoming fleet of Airbus A321neos.
Speaking during Hawaiian's 2017 earnings call on 29 January, chief executive Mark Dunkerley says 189-seat A321neos have better trip and seat-mile costs on routes between Hawaii and the US mainland even than Hawaiian's 294-seat A330s.
"In terms of cost per seat, the A321neo is more efficient than even our A330s over that particular segment length," says Dunkerley. "It’s not by much, but it’s considerably more efficient than the competing narrowbodies that are currently flying."
The A321neo "gives us the same operating cost advantage that we get on the widebodies... It's, in fact, even a little bit better than that."
Hawaiian chief commercial officer Peter Ingram has long touted the carrier's Pratt & Whitney-powered A321neo as the "perfect" aircraft for the roughly 2,100nm to 2,300nm routes from Hawaii to US West Coast cities.
The airline has received two of 18 A321neos that it has on order, with deliveries scheduled to run into 2020, according to Flight Fleets Analyzer.
Hawaiian launched its first A321neo transpacific route – from Maui to Oakland – on 8 January, followed by Maui-Portland flights on 18 January.
The airline plans to deploy A321neos this year on the Lihue-Oakland, Kona-Los Angeles, Maui-San Diego, Kona-Oakland and Honolulu-San Francisco routes, it has said.
Competing carriers Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines operate A320s, Boeing 737s and 757s on those routes, FlightGlobal schedules data shows.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
