HONOLULU, November 11, 1998 - Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (AMEX and PCX: HA) celebrates its 69th birthday on November 11, 1998 and begins its 70th year of serving Hawaii's air transportation needs.
The airline began Hawaii's first scheduled interisland air service as Inter-Island Airways on November 11, 1929. The first scheduled flight that day was from Honolulu to Hilo, with a stop on Maui. The next day's flight was to Kauai.
The company's first aircraft, a Sikorsky S-38 amphibian, could land on land or water, carrying a maximum of eight passengers and two pilots.
Hawaiian Airlines grew up with Hawaii. Today, it's the 12th largest airline in the United States and the second largest carrier of passengers between here and the West Coast.
"Hawaiian Airlines has a proud and distinguished history of serving these Islands," said Paul J. Casey, Hawaiian Airlines president and chief executive officer. "We are doing everything we can to ensure that Hawaiian Airlines will be as strong, efficient and technologically advanced as possible to continue serving Hawaii's air transportation needs for the next century."
The airline will commemorate its 70 years of aviation history with special events throughout the year, beginning Tuesday, November 10, with a free noontime concert by the Makaha Sons in downtown Honolulu's Bishop Square.
A 70 Years of Service logo will be used on all Hawaiian Airlines communications during the year. The 1999 Hawaiian Airlines wall calendar features a retrospective of Hawaiian Airlines uniforms.
The company is asking employees and the public to bring in Hawaiian Airlines memorabilia items. Anyone who has a Hawaiian Airlines item with an interesting story behind it is asked to contact Hawaiian Airlines Corporate Communications at 838-6776.
Hawaiian Airlines currently operates a fleet of McDonnell Douglas widebody DC-10 aircraft on 12 flights a day between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland. Hawaiian's DC-10 South Pacific service links Honolulu with American Samoa and Tahiti. Its fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-9s provides award-winning service on more than 140 jet flights daily among the islands of Hawaii.
The company recently announced plans to acquire DC-10-30 aircraft to operate daily nonstop service from Los Angeles to Kahului, Maui, continuing on to Kona
on the Big Island four times a week, beginning in March 1999. Later in the year, Hawaiian Airlines will expand its charter operations with an exclusive service between Los Angeles and Tahiti for Renaissance Cruises.