HONOLULU – May 21, 2009 - In celebration of its 80th anniversary of service in Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines today announced a $150,000 gift to Bishop Museum in support of its enduring mission to preserve the heritage and culture of Hawaii.
“This gift is a breath of fresh air as we continue to face economic challenges. We are very grateful to Hawaiian Airlines for its generosity, as this will ensure the continuation of our science and cultural educational programs to schools on the Neighbor Islands,” said Timothy Johns, president and CEO of Bishop Museum. “And we are honored to enter into a partnership with a local business that understands the value of nurturing the Hawaiian culture and aloha to our community. It brings us comfort knowing that our collection and staff will be in good hands when we travel to the Neighbor Islands or the West Coast for the museum’s science and cultural education outreach.”
Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and CEO, commented, “As the steward of Hawaii’s cultural history, Bishop Museum has been protecting, preserving, and teaching the history of our islands for generations. We can think of no better way to make a meaningful, lasting gift to Hawaii than helping to ensure the continued work of the museum and its world-class staff.”
Hawaiian’s gift is a combination of cash and in-kind transportation in support of museum programs from 2009 to 2011. Bishop Museum will utilize Hawaiian’s donation for its educational and collections care programs, including the transporting of curators and educators to schools and communities on the Neighbor Islands.
A Bishop Museum educational outreach program that will benefit greatly is Holoholo Science, which brings rare learning opportunities to the classroom including the handling of scientific specimens, artifacts, and state-of-the-art science equipment. The museum’s team of science educators makes every effort to reach schools throughout the state.
Collection items that are loaned to other museums or historic artifacts in need of analysis will also be transported aboard Hawaiian. One of the first artifacts being transported is a wax-type phonograph owned by King David Kalākaua, which is believed to hold a personal message he recorded for his people in 1891. The wax cylinder will soon be transported to California where a specialist will attempt to recover the recording of the King’s voice from the cylinder.
On November 11, 2009, Hawaiian will mark 80 years of continuous service to Hawaii’s people. On November 11, 1929, Inter-Island Airways (the name changed to Hawaiian Airlines in October 1941) began offering interisland flights with two Sikorsky S-38 amphibian propeller planes that had a carrying capacity of eight passengers and two crewmembers, and a top cruising speed of 110 miles per hour. The inaugural flight from Honolulu to Hilo with a stop on Maui took more than three hours.
In 1930, its first full year of operations, the airline carried 10,367 passengers between the islands – about what Hawaiian carries in a single day between the islands now – and another 2,500 sightseers over Honolulu. By comparison, Hawaiian carried more than 7.8 million passengers systemwide in 2008.
Today, Hawaiian operates a fleet of 33 aircraft – 18 Boeing 767-300 jets for transpacific service and 15 Boeing 717-200 jets for interisland flights – offering more than 190 flights daily. Next spring, the company will begin welcoming its next generation of long-range transpacific aircraft, the Airbus A330-200. The wide-body, twin-aisle Airbus A330 will seat 294 passengers in a two-class configuration and have an operating range of 6,050 nautical miles, giving Hawaiian the ability to fly nonstop to all of North America and points in eastern Asia.
About Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawaii and other Pacific island cultures. Mr. Bishop built the magnificent Polynesian and Hawaiian Halls on the grounds of the original Kamehameha Schools for Boys.
Today, Bishop Museum is the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific, recognized throughout the world for its cultural collections, research projects, consulting services and public educational programs. It also has one of the largest natural history specimen collections in the world. Serving and representing the interests of Native Hawaiians is a primary purpose of the Museum.
About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian is the nation’s highest-ranked carrier for service quality and performance in 2008 in the 19th annual Airline Quality Rating study. Hawaiian has also led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past five years (2004-2008) and has been an industry leader in fewest misplaced bags during that same period (#1 from 2005-2007, #2 in 2008) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and Zagat have all ranked Hawaiian as the top domestic airline serving Hawaii.
Now in its 80th year of continuous service in Hawaii, Hawaiian is the state’s biggest and longest-serving airline, as well as the largest provider of passenger air service to Hawaii from the state’s primary visitor markets on the U.S. mainland. Hawaiian offers nonstop service to Hawaii from more U.S. gateway cities (10) than any other airline, as well as service to the Philippines, Australia, American Samoa, and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides more than 160 daily jet flights within the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com.