In case you missed it, Hawaiian Airlines blew out 90 birthday candles in Honolulu last Monday, Nov. 11! Well, we didn’t really—but the action-packed day goes down in history as one of our most iconic anniversaries filled with surprises, gifts, and lots of ‘ohana (family).
Join us in reminiscing these fine moments by checking out our compilation videos below:
Anniversary Flight HA1111
Celebrations kicked off with HA1111, the ultimate flyback flight that packed a big surprise for 120 lucky guests. Travelers relived history on a flight from Honolulu (HNL) to Hilo (ITO), with a brief stop in Kahului, Maui (OGG)—a similar itinerary our very first passengers embarked on during our inaugural flights in 1929.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: The original flight took off from Honolulu’s John Rodgers Airport, near where Castle and Cooke Aviation is now located, and stopped at Maalaea Airport on Maui before proceeding to Hilo Airport on Hawai‘i Island.]
Our guests were treated to a memorable flight experience—from being served by flight attendants in original uniforms from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, to receiving a copy of the Nov. 11, 1929 Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper whose headline announced the start of passenger air service between the islands. The cherry on the cake: each guest walked off the Boeing 717 with a birthday card, a gift of 90,000 HawaiianMiles, and our OGG airport ‘ohana waiting at the gate to greet them with lei and entertainment.
Charitable Plane Pull
Ready…get set…pull! The Great Hawaiian Plane Pull kicked off on the tarmac of Honolulu’s Castle & Cooke Aviation—below the flight path of our inaugural service in 1929. A mix of approx. 70 Hawaiian Airlines and community teams, each with 12 participants, gathered to pull a Boeing 717 12 feet in the shortest amount of time. At the end of the day, only one team left with bragging rights.
Hawaiian’s own Team Wide Body, representing our OGG Contract Services ‘ohana, had the fastest time with an impressive six-second pull, less than a second faster than the runner up. Our President and CEO Peter Ingram, whose officer team posted a respectable nine-second pull time, presented Wide Body with the grand prize of 1,080,000 HawaiianMiles, or 90,000 HawaiianMiles to each participant. The event raised $33,000 – the sum of all community team entry fees – to Hawaiian’s longtime nonprofit partner Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii in support of its work to mālama (care for) our beaches and coasts.
“The foresight of our founder Stanley Kennedy to introduce Hawai‘i to commercial aviation forever changed the way we travel across our archipelago for leisure and business,” Ingram said in a news release that announced the celebration. “Today we honor Stan’s legacy and join with our employees to say ‘mahalo nui loa’ to our community and our guests in a fun and creative way.”
Check out some of our favorite photo moments from our Nov. 11 anniversary events:
