Hawaiian Air signs
Star-Bulletin staff
$70 mil charter pact
Hawaiian Airlines Inc. has won a substantial boost in its charter business by signing a $70 million, two-year charter agreement to fly passengers direct between Los Angeles and Tahiti for a cruise line, Renaissance Cruises.
The airline said it will hire about 130 people, including pilots and flight attendants, for the 18 to 20 round-trip flights a month, which will start next August.
The airline will acquire a DC-10-30 widebody jet for the route, decorating it in the Hawaiian Airlines style but adding the Renaissance Cruises logo, said Paul Casey, Hawaiian Airlines president and chief executive officer. The Tahiti business will double Hawaiian's charter business, lifting it to 15 percent of the airline's total revenues, Casey said. Hawaiian is familiar with the Tahiti market, serving it from Hawaii since 1987.
Hawaiian also serves American Samoa, with DC-10s out of Honolulu. The Tahiti charters will coincide with the launch by Renaissance Cruises of two new ships in the French Polynesia cruise market.
