Boy, there's nothing like a trip to Vegas to inspire some serious interest in the topic of the day. From nene to birds
of paradiseEntries in the Star-Bulletin's
"Name that airline" contest show
a wide variety of nom de planeStar-Bulletin staff
Thanks to the hundreds of readers who took up the challenge of suggesting names for the entity that would result if the merger of Hawaiian and Aloha airlines is completed. Entries were coming in steadily even before Sunday's announcement of a prize drawing for a five-day, four-night trip to Las Vegas, but the stream turned to a flash flood this week.
There were many fine ideas and it was no small task to whittle them down to the five on this ballot.
Most of those who entered took the task very seriously. Some however, let their humor get the best of them. While we could not in good conscience include those entries on the ballot, we did enjoy getting them and will mention some for your reading pleasure.
There were several themes, and we've attempted to include most of them.
In further evidence that Rodney King should be named an honorary resident of Hawaii, many of our readers asked, "Why can't we all just get along?" This cultural propensity for compromise was evidenced by a mountain of attempts to combine the names of the existing carriers. While the temptation is understandable amid the drama of the merger proposal, in five or 10 years we felt any of these choices would simply seem like a really long, or really awkward, name for an airline.
Special mention, however, goes to Michael Feeney's combination of the first two letters of Hawaiian and the last two letters of Aloha into: Ha-Ha, The Only Way to Fly.
In a spirit similar to the compromise attempts, many readers explored names that included the words Aloha, Hawaii and Island. Of these we've placed on the ballot Air Hawaii, which was suggested by many readers. It's noted advantages include immediate recognition as the state's flagship carrier. In addition, it is consistent with a pattern of naming such carriers worldwide.
Hawaiian language suggestions were also plentiful. E Komo Mai and Holoholo were both judged very fitting, but we thought too few mainlanders would understand why. And then there's the pronunciation problem. So we went with the most popular suggestion from this group, Ohana Airlines. We assumed the few people who suggested Mahalo Air didn't realize there was a Mahalo Air that went out of business, making the name a poor omen for the new carrier.
Meanwhile, the state's reputation as a paradise is entirely secure, at least among our readers. Variations on that theme were extremely popular. Our favorite of the bunch was Birds of Paradise, so that is on the ballot.
A smaller set of readers suggested names derived from the imagery of Hawaii. These ran the gamut. Walter Park nominated Shaka Air Lines, while Katherine Sato pitched Hibiscus Airlines. But far and away the most popular name in this category was Rainbow Airlines, so that also is on the ballot. The suggestion of Ocean Air was felt to be too likely to worry nervous flyers.
Many readers chose names with an eye toward suggesting a regional scope for the airline. Most of these used Polynesian and Pacific themes. An ambitious Edwin Oshiro even suggested Hawaii's World Airline. We chose Pacific West Airlines for the ballot as being broad, without being overly broad. It was nominated by Michael Hansen to reflect the carrier's reach across the Pacific Ocean and into the western United States.
The nostalgic set thought the new airline might want to draw on Hawaii's past for a name. The Hawaiian monarchy, early western exploration and the "Hawaii 5-0" television series all provided sources of inspiration for this group.
In the miscellaneous category, Myrtle Kesler's entry almost made it onto the ballot. We really liked it, but couldn't quite convince ourselves it was a viable option. She suggested The Plane, with the flawless logic that's it worked awfully well for TheBus.
Our favorite pidgin entry was Wallace Rowland's Stay Go Airways, but we got so many comments from folks who didn't want to see a pidgin name for the company, that it wound up in the also-ran pile.
The monopoly issue inspired a variety of participants. Among them was Michael Carnes with TSA, or Tri-Swimmin Airways. He writes, "If you don't like the monopoly airfare, you can always try swimming."
Geese were a mini-theme, both the nene variety and as the layers of golden eggs. And food inspired Gary Kiyabu to nominate Harm Ha Airlines. "It smells a little fishy and no one is really sure how it came about or what the main ingredients are. Most importantly, it'll probably be bad for us," he writes.
But as funny as they are, the cynical entries were wildly outnumbered by participants who were earnest in their efforts and supportive of any airline representing the state.
While Carl Ishikawa's suggestion of Ambassador Airlines was judged too vague to stand alone. The sentiment he expressed was shared by many.
"I've always considered Hawaii a link between the many different cultures, especially between the East and the West. Having an airline that represents this link seems appropriate," he writes.
Readers of the print edition may cast ballots for one of the five finalists; no e-mail votes will be accepted. We'll run the results next Sunday. Employees of Oahu Publications are not eligible to participate.
