Hawaiian Airlines has now received it’s first A321neo in the carrier’s brand new livery including new silver lei around the fuselage. A team of Hawaiian Airlines employees took the long trip from the tropical island state all the way to the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany, to pick up the new aircraft and begin its journey home to Honolulu.
Hawaiian’s highly-efficient A321neo fleet of 18 aircraft will be used primarily to expand the carrier’s U.S. West Coast network, with a focus on adding non-stop flights to the neighbour islands, where these leaner A321 cabins will come in to their own.
Hawaiian will launch daily non-stop service between Portland and Kahului, Maui, on Jan. 18. A321neo flights between Oakland and Lihue on Kauai will begin April 11, followed by service between Los Angeles and the Kona Coast on the Island of Hawaii next summer.
Additional routes will be announced as Hawaiian welcomes the A321neo fleet through 2020.
The aircraft will be a welcome addition, however it’s sad not to see fully flat seating in the A321 cabin, perhaps with the introduction of seats like the Thomson Vantage Solo to the market, Hawaiian may be convinced to re-introduce flat-seats throughout its medium and long haul fleet.
TheDesignAir 