Hawaiian Airlines will take delivery of the first of four leased Boeing 717 aircraft from Boeing Capital on 26 September.
The aircraft will be placed into inter-island service on 1 October, if not earlier, a carrier spokesman says. Hawaiian's inter-island network includes Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii.
A second 717 will arrive on 8 October and for a targeted in-service date of 1 November, he says.
The remaining two deliveries are scheduled for mid November and mid December.
Hawaiian plans to use the 123-seat aircraft to replace two spares--a 264-seat 767 and a 717--that it placed on inter-island routes after the collapse of ATA Airlines and Aloha Airlines in April.
The 717 currently used for operation on those routes will return to its spare status this weekend while the 767 will continue in operation until November, the carrier's spokesman explains.
Carrier CEO Mark Dunkerly realizes the 767 is not the optimal aircraft for the 18 minute inter-island flights, recently telling attendees at an investor conference it was a costly way to meet demand.
Honolulu-based Hawaiian will eventually remove 18 767s from its fleet-including seven owned aircraft-and replace them with six Airbus A330-200s and six A350-800s on order.
Airbus will deliver the first A330-200 in 2012 and the first A350-800 in 2017.
In the meantime, the airline has been negotiating with lessors to bring additional aircraft into service as early as late 2010, Dunkerley says.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
