Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
To Our Readers
Aloha Airlines should name an airplane after Wee Willie Keeler, who won the National League batting title in 1897 with a .424 average. That's the third highest ever, but it's not why they should name a plane after him. Small can
be betterNor is it because he was a Baltimore Oriole, although both orioles and Aloha 737s fly, nor because Aloha is small, too. No, it's because Keeler and Aloha share a strategy.
"Hit 'em where they ain't," Keeler said while setting a consecutive-game hitting streak record of 44 games. Only one other National Leaguer, Pete Rose, has tied it and only American Leaguer Joe DiMaggio ever broke it.
As his totalbaseball.com biography puts it: "Exercising perfect bat control, time and time again, Keeler pecked the ball just over an infielder's head. If the defender moved back, Keeler simply dropped a bunt...Occasionally one of Willie's pecks would skip between two outfielders and Keeler would race to second or third. Nearly all of his 34 career home runs were such inside-the-park 'tweeners.' "
Aloha's tweeners are its new flights to Oakland. Jim King, the airline's planning and development vice president, says Boeing's new aircraft were the key. These 737-700s can be certified to fly three hours over water from the nearest airport, bringing the West Coast into range.
Rather than go head-to-head with the wide-body big boys, Aloha considered smaller airports with frequent Hawaii travelers, good demographics and "low probability of competitive response." Research led to Oakland, where counter space, gates and excellent parking were available.
Other pluses, King says, include better weather (hence, fewer delays) than San Francisco International, equal proximity to downtown and superior access to the booming East Bay.
The test of a strategy is results. King says the Oakland routes from Honolulu and Maui have 80 percent load factors, turning a profit in April after just three months.
"It's not a huge market, but it's a very responsive market," King says. "You just love it when a plan comes together." Hum, baby.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.