Advertiser Staff
Hawaiian Airlines pilot Peter Miller pushed back from Honolulu International Airport yesterday around 4:30 p.m. in the company’s brand-new Boeing 717 aircraft with more than 100 local business people and dignitaries on board.
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| Hawaiian Airlines showed off its new Boeing 717 at the Honolulu International Airport yesterday.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser |
"I’m excited — I’m nervous too," said Miller, whose passengers included Gov. Ben Cayetano.
The inaugural flight of Hawaiian’s 717 — the first new type of plane to enter the interisland market in more than 30 years — was to take the group on a 35-minute flight around O‘ahu.
The ‘I‘iwi, as the plane is named, goes into service on Hawaiian’s regular routes tomorrow. It will start with flights between Honolulu and Maui.
The airline has invested $430 million in 13 of the aircraft, all of which will be in service by the end of the year, replacing the company’s aging fleet of DC-9 aircraft. The 717 is expected to save Hawaiian at least 25 percent in fuel costs, according to Hawaiian Air chief executive officer Paul Casey.
Passengers will find bigger overhead bins and lighted handrails but, alas, the same amount of legroom as the DC-9s: 31 inches in coach.
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