Hawaiian Airlines
adding first class
to interisland flights
The move follows Aloha's
By Russ Lynch
decision to expand its top seating
Star-BulletinHawaiian Airlines Inc. will soon be offering first-class seats on its interisland flights, something competitor Aloha Airlines has been doing since 1984.
Hawaiian said it plans to reconfigure its 15 Douglas DC-9 jets, which now have 135 coach-class seats, so that they will each have eight seats in a new first class and 125 in coach class.
The airline said last month's acquisition of two additional DC-9s gives it enough fleet flexibility to make the changes during normal maintenance checks. The additional aircraft will arrive with the new seating arrangement in place and the conversion of the rest of the fleet will be completed in April, Hawaiian said.
Hawaiian's announcement comes three days after Aloha announced it will expand the first-class section in its fleet of 18 Boeing 737s to provide 10-12 seats, up from the current arrangement of six to eight first-class seats. Aloha is also removing some coach-class seats to give all the coach passengers two inches of additional leg room.
Hawaiian said at the time it was happy with its seat configuration.
In a news release today, however, Hawaiian said it wants to offer a higher level of interisland service to the passengers who travel in first class on its DC-10 wide-body jets from the mainland or the South Pacific and for first-class travelers from its airline partners, American and Northwest airlines. The change will also offer something extra for Hawaiian's interisland business travelers and frequent fliers, said Paul Casey, the airline's president and chief executive.
Aloha Airlines also had its frequent-flier passengers in mind when it decided to increase the first-class section and give the other passengers more room, according to Glenn Zander, Aloha president and chief executive.
