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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Hawaiian names president

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

After a seven-month search, Hawaiian Airlines has hired a former executive of British Airways and Belgian carrier Sabena Airlines as its new president and chief operating officer.

John Adams is chairman of Hawaiian Airlines.

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Mark B. Dunkerley, 39, will report directly to Chairman John W. Adams, who will relinquish the title of president Jan. 1 when Dunk-erley joins the airline.

Adams, who had assumed the additional responsibilities of chief executive officer and president when Paul Casey resigned at the end of June, will continue to also serve as CEO.

Dunkerley, in addition to his position as president, will assume the title of chief operating officer, which had been held by Robert Zoller until he left the airline last April.

Dunkerley joins Hawaiian at a difficult time as the airline struggles to reduce its costs.

Hawaiian announced in late October that it was reducing its work force by 4 percent, or 150 employees, and cutting back work schedules for some part-time reservationists.

The cutbacks began in early November and will continue over the next several months. Some employees have said the chief operating officer position is important in the carrier's efforts toward profitability.

"Hawaiian is a diamond in the rough," Dunkerley said in a written statement yesterday. "This is a company with incredible human resources and brand equity that can be one of the world's great airlines."

Dunkerley was most recently Sabena Airlines Group's chief operating officer from mid-2001 until April.

In 1999 and 2000 he served as president and chief operating officer at Dallas-based airport ground service provider Worldwide Flight Services. For 10 years up until 1999 Dunkerley worked as a manager at British Airways, including three years as senior vice president for the airline's Latin America and Caribbean division.

His first position in aviation was as assistant to the CEO of the Miami International Airport from 1985 until 1999.

Dunkerley will be responsible for marketing and sales as well as all operating departments, including flight operations, airport services, maintenance and engineering, in-flight catering, crew scheduling and systems operation control.

Dunkerley takes on the position during Hawaiian's ongoing replacement of its transpacific fleet with 16 Boeing wide-body aircraft, to be completed by mid-2003.

Adams said Dunkerley has a "hands-on leadership style" and a track record of improving operational and financial performance.

Dunkerley is a licensed commercial pilot, with a bachelor's degree from the London School of Economics and a master's degree in aeronautics from the Cranfield Institute of Technology in the United Kingdom.

Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470, or kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.