The future and past of Hawaiian Airlines' 80-year history came together yesterday.

In a musical and cultural spectacle that showcased the company's new Airbus A330-200 towering over the company's first-ever aircraft in a hangar at Honolulu Airport, Hawaiian officially ushered in a new era for state aviation before several hundred onlookers, including Gov. Linda Lingle, former Gov. Ben Cayetano, and more than two dozen lawmakers and state officials.

The 294-seat Airbus A330, which will make its maiden commercial flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles on Friday, offers 30 additional seats and more legroom than the Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft that Hawaiian currently uses on its trans-Pacific flights, as well as an enhanced in-flight entertainment system featuring high-resolution LCD touch-screen monitors on the back of each seat. The monitors allow each passenger to choose from a selection of movies, video programs, audio channels and video games. Each system also includes a USB port that will allow personal media players to be connected.

First-class passengers will have larger in-seat LCD screens and iPod compatibility.

The Airbus A330, displayed yesterday alongside Hawaiian's 1929 six-seat Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker, represents the first in a decade-long makeover of Hawaiian's long-range fleet that eventually could bring in as many as 27 new Airbus aircraft.

“;Today and together over the past few years, we've put our company in a position to make this historic investment in the future,”; said Mark Dunkerley, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian. “;It represents a commitment over the next decade of more than $5 billion, the largest private-sector investment in the state's history and an investment that we are making in the future of Hawaii and in our company.”;

The A330, which was built in Toulouse, France, and delivered five weeks ago, was joined last weekend by a second Airbus that will be placed into service on another Honolulu-Los Angeles route beginning June 17. Prior to yesterday's ceremony, about 200 Hawaiian employees were taken for a ride in the Airbus that will be used on that second route.

A third A330 is due to arrive in November and will be used for Honolulu-Las Vegas service, while a fourth A330 that is expected in April will be used for Hawaiian's tentatively awarded route between Honolulu and Tokyo's Haneda Airport that is scheduled to begin in October. The two A330s that Hawaiian currently has in its possession will add about 118,000 new seats annually to Hawaii.

“;There's nowhere now that Hawaiian can't go, and there's nowhere from which they can't bring visitors to Hawaii, and that really bodes well for our future,”; said Lingle, one of the guest speakers. “;Thank you for having the courage to move forward with this massive investment and thank you for the confidence you've shown in us as we bring about a multibillion-dollar modernization of our state airport system.”;

The A330s will provide Hawaiian with larger capacity, greater efficiency and longer ranges to carry people at a lower cost and to and from more distant places.

“;I don't think there's anything more exciting for an airline, quite frankly, than adding a new airplane to the fleet,”; said T. Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas. “;It's full of promise. It's full of hope. It's full of expectations of speculation as to different markets and cities you can serve. The fact that this airplane flew nonstop from Toulouse kind of opens up your imagination of where you can reach from Hawaii to the markets of the world.”;