HONOLULU, January 6, 2004 -- The U.S Department of Transportation (DOT) reported today that Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaii's oldest and biggest airline, had the nation's best on-time service for November 2003, with 93.3 percent of its flights arriving on schedule.
The DOT issued its Air Travel Consumer Report for November comparing the performance of Hawaiian and 17 other major and regional airlines that file monthly statistics with the federal government. On-time service, according to DOT standards, is any flight arriving within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.
"We're elated that the hard work and diligence of our employees has paid off and that Hawaiian is America's number one carrier in November for getting travelers to their destinations on time. Hawaiian had been more punctual than all of the airlines reporting to DOT for the previous 10 months as well, but this is the first time our data has been included in DOT's report," said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's president and chief operating officer.
"This outstanding performance is a direct result of recommendations and initiatives put forth by Hawaiian Airlines employees. Together with our operations managers, they deserve all the credit."
Dunkerley noted that, beginning in January 2003, Hawaiian formed a task team of front-line employees and a manager that conducted an exhaustive evaluation of existing operations and all procedures "above and below wing." Numerous recommendations were implemented ranging in scope from minute procedural changes to increased staffing, which have collectively resulted in consistently high flight schedule reliability and enhanced customer service.
Hawaiian averages approximately 30 transpacific flights and 100 interisland flights daily. Dunkerley pointed out that the consistency in on-time performance is especially impressive considering that Hawaiian's interisland service consists of short, back-to-back trips with only 25 minutes on the ground in between flights. Any delays can potentially carry over to affect departures and arrivals for the remainder of the day.
November marked the first month that Hawaiian began voluntarily reporting its monthly flight statistics with DOT.
The November ranking by DOT follows an industry analysis prepared by the Honolulu market research firm of Q-Mark Research & Polling, which showed that Hawaiian had the nation's best year-to-date on-time performance through October 2003, with 92.1 percent of flights arriving on time for the first 10 months of the year. The analysis covered approximately 40,000 flights and 4.6 million passengers that Hawaiian serviced through October, and compared data collected from the airline with the published data of DOT.
"On-time service is just one area of excellence in customer service in which Hawaiian is continually striving to be the best in the airline industry," Dunkerley said.
The Air Travel Consumer Report is available online at www.airconsumer.ost.dot.gov.
About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines is recognized as one of the best airlines in America. Business travelers recently surveyed by Condé Nast Traveler rated Hawaiian Airlines as having the best in-flight service and meals of any U.S. carrier. Hawaiian was recently ranked fourth best in the nation overall by Travel + Leisure.
Founded in Honolulu 74 years ago, Hawaiian Airlines is Hawaii's largest and longest-serving airline, and the second largest provider of passenger air service between Hawaii and the mainland U.S. Hawaiian offers nonstop service to Hawaii from more mainland U.S. gateways than any other airline. Hawaiian also provides approximately 100 daily jet flights among the Hawaiian Islands, as well as service to American Samoa and Tahiti.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (AMEX and PCX: HA). Since the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee on May 16, 2003, Hawaiian Holdings has had no involvement in the management of Hawaiian Airlines and has had limited access to information concerning the airline.
Additional information on Hawaiian Airlines is available at www.HawaiianAir.com.