Hawaiian Airlines will replace its Boeing 767 fleet with all-Airbus widebodies under agreements reached with the European airframer and Rolls-Royce.
The Honolulu-based carrier has inked memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the two firms to acquire six Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered A350 XWB -800 aircraft and six Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered A330-200s, with purchase rights for an additional six of each type.
The first A330-200 will be delivered by Airbus in 2012 and the first A350-800 in 2017.
Additional A330s will also be sought through the leasing market. These could be introduced into the fleet as early as 2009 “and would coincide with the earlier of the lease expirations on some of our 767s”, says a Hawaiian spokesman.
President and CEO Mark Dunkerley says Hawaiian is building flexibility into the plan “with some aircraft purchased, some to be leased and having options for others, which will allow us to scale the fleet according to our needs and opportunities over the next two decades”.
The agreements have a total list-price value of about $4.4 billion if all of the purchase rights are exercised. They represent the largest single investment in Hawaiian’s 78-year history.
In addition to 18 Boeing 767s, Hawaiian operates nearly a dozen Boeing 717s. The Hawaiian spokesman says the carrier has not begun talks to replace these narrowbodies.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
