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HONOLULU, September 9, 1998 -- Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (ASE and PCX: HA) has announced that it will expand its role as a leading carrier of west-bound visitors to Hawaii with new year-round nonstop Los Angeles-Maui-Los Angeles and Los Angeles-Maui-Kona-Los Angeles service to be launched in mid-March, 1999. Paul J. Casey, Hawaiian Airlines president and chief executive officer, said the airline will acquire two additional widebody DC-10 aircraft and hire more than 150 new employees to support the new service. "These new routes will expand Hawaiian's already major presence in the mainland-Hawaii market and significantly increase our flight operations, with additional aircraft capacity and workforce," Casey said. The new routes will: * increase the number of nonstop flights Hawaiian offers between the mainland and Hawaii to 118 per week; * offer the only nonstop widebody service from Kona to Los Angeles; and * add more than 2,100 seats in nonstop service to Maui and more than 900 seats in direct (one-stop) service to Kona from Los Angeles, the largest single mainland visitor market for Hawaii. Hawaiian Flight #5 will depart Los Angeles daily at 9:50 a.m. and arrive at Kahului, Maui at 1:25 p.m. Four days per week, returning Flight #6 will depart Kahului at 2:40 p.m. and arrive at Los Angeles at 9:45 p.m. Three days per week, Flight #5 will continue from Kahului to Kona at at 2:40 p.m., arriving at 3:10 p.m. On the same days, returning Flight #6 will depart Kona daily at 4:00 p.m. and arrive at Los Angeles at 10:55 p.m. John Happ, Hawaiian's senior vice president for marketing and sales, said the company's expansion of nonstop service to Maui is in direct response to consumer demand. "We see a trend in consumer interest toward travel to the neighbor islands, particularly in the repeat-visitor sector, which accounts for a significant portion of our total tourism in Hawaii. This is good for the neighbor island economies, and as Hawaii's only local carrier serving the mainland, we intend to help answer the demand," Happ said. Hawaiian currently operates ten 304-seat wide-body McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 jets on flights to Hawaii from points on the mainland and South Pacific, and 13 139-seat narrow-body DC-9 jets on flights among the islands of Hawaii. The two newly acquired DC-10s are to be DC-10-30 aircraft, a longer range model than the DC-10-10. The more powerful -30 series aircraft will facilitate nonstop service to Hawaii's neighbor island airports, whose runways are shorter than Honolulu's, and provide Hawaiian the flexibility in the future to serve destinations beyond its current route structure. Founded in Honolulu 68 years ago, Hawaiian Airlines is Hawaii's longest-serving and largest airline, and the nation's 12th largest carrier. |