Aussie Anniversary: Hawaiian Airlines Celebrates 10 Years of Sydney Service and Announces Plans for Airbus A330 Upgrade from Brisbane

HONOLULU, May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian Airlines will celebrate a successful 10 years of service from Australia this Sunday, May 18, marking the milestone with celebrations for guests onboard the day's anniversary flights between Sydney Airport (SYD) and Honolulu International Airport (HNL). Hawaiian, the only U.S. carrier that flies to Brisbane Airport (BNE), also announced that beginning Dec. 5, 2014, travelers on its HNL-BNE route will enjoy more legroom and on-demand, seatback entertainment when the airline up-gauges service from the 264-seat Boeing 767-300ERs to the 294-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

"Australia has become an important part of our network and over the last decade has become an increasingly important part of the overall tourism base in Hawaii," said Peter Ingram, chief commercial officer of Hawaiian Airlines.  "There has been particularly strong demand for travel to Honolulu from Brisbane and we are pleased to be adding additional capacity and comfortable new aircraft to the route.  This allows even more Aussie travelers to visit the Hawaiian Islands via Honolulu and connect to any of our 11 U.S. destination gateways."     

Brisbane Service

In 2013, Hawaiian transported more than 65,000 passengers between Brisbane and Honolulu. Following strong demand from both U.S. and Aussie travelers, on March 31 this year the airline launched a fourth non-stop flight between Brisbane and Honolulu, adding more than 20,000 new seats to the travel markets. With the planned up-gauge to an A330 this December, more than 6,200 additional seats will be added in 2015.

Service will continue with slightly adjusted times beginning Dec. 5, 2014 from Honolulu:

Service to Brisbane, which also serves as a key hub for onward travel throughout Australia, provides connecting travelers with same-day flights throughout Queensland and to other states through its partner airline carrier.

Sydney Service          

Hawaiian inaugurated convenient, well-timed service from Sydney, its first Australian destination, to Honolulu in 2004.  The airline operated four-times weekly using a Boeing 767-300ER wide-body aircraft.

Following the launch of Hawaiian's service, the market -- which had long been underserved with poorly-timed schedules -- saw a dramatic increase in Australia-originating tourism to the Hawaiian Islands. In 2002, Hawaii received only 91,911 visitors from Australia, compared to 305,783 Australians visiting Hawaii in 2013. Hawaiian's user-friendly schedule allowed guests to depart in the evening, arriving to Honolulu in the morning with enough time to make a convenient inter-island connection or seamlessly check-in to their hotel with time to enjoy the day.

From December 2011, Hawaiian began operating nonstop daily flights, and by May of 2012, it introduced the wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft to match demand on the route.

A330 Special Amenities        

Hawaiian Airlines' A330 offers amenities that have been popular with its customers, highlighted by the personal on-demand entertainment system for each seat, increased legroom, and the roomy interior. With high-resolution LCD touch-screen monitors in each seatback, the A330's state-of-the-art entertainment system lets customers choose from a wide range of movies, TV programs, music, and video games, while also offering a USB port for the use of their own personal media players. In addition to the comforts of the A330 aircraft, travelers will enjoy complimentary meals in all cabins and Hawaiian Airlines' signature inflight hospitality that celebrates the culture, people and Aloha Spirit of the Hawaiian Islands.

All Hawaiian Airlines fares from Australia include a generous baggage allowance per person (two free bags weighing up to 70 lbs each), complimentary meals, wine and beer, and onboard service delivered with genuine Hawaiian hospitality.

About Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian^® has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 10 years (2004-2013) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and Zagat have all ranked Hawaiian the highest of all domestic airlines serving Hawai'i.

Now in its 85th year of continuous service, Hawaiian is Hawai'i's biggest and longest-serving airline, as well as the largest provider of passenger air service from its primary visitor markets on the U.S. mainland. Hawaiian offers non-stop service to Hawai'i from more U.S. gateway cities (11) than any other airline, along with service from Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides approximately 160 jet flights daily between the Hawaiian Islands, with a total of more than 200 daily flights system-wide.

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at HawaiianAirlines.com. Follow updates on Twitter about Hawaiian (@HawaiianAir) and its special fare offers (@HawaiianFares), and become a fan on its Facebook page.

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SOURCE Hawaiian Airlines