It was an end of an era at Hawaiian Airlines after the carrier farewelled its remaining Boeing 767-300ER as it landed in Honolulu on January 7.
The Boeing 767-300ER, tail number N594 and operating flight HA19, was the remaining representative of a fleet that totaled 18 aircraft at its peak and took over from airline's DC-10s in 2001.
The wide-body Boeing twins led the launch of 16 new-non-stop routes that included flights to Sydney and Brisbane Australia, Osaka, Tokyo and Sapporo Japan and Seoul in South Korea.
The aircraft landed at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) from Sacramento International Airport (SMF) with 258 passengers and 10 crew members on board.
They were met with a celebratory lei and welcomed by airline officials, including chief executive Peter Ingram.
“The Boeing 767 was instrumental to our transpacific growth, international expansion and success in introducing millions of guests to this special place we call home,” Ingram said in a blog posted on Hawaiian's website.
“Today’s 767 retirement marks another chapter in our ongoing fleet modernization program as we continue to take more deliveries of Airbus A321neos and prepare to welcome the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in 2021.”
The 767 fleet was named after migratory birds and the last plane was called ‘Ulili after the Wandering Tattler bird.
The type's departure leaves Hawaiian with 24 278-seat Airbus A330-200s and 11 189-seat A321-200neos in its trans-Pacific fleet.
It also uses ATR turboprops and Boeing 717s on inter-island routes.
By the end of 2020, it will have 18 A321neo and will start introducing 10 new Boeing 787-9s in 2021.
A rendering of the airline's incoming 787-9.
The 787-9 will bring greater range and increased fuel efficiency as well as lower maintenance costs compared to the 767.
Ingram told AirlineRatings last August the new planes would allow the airline to look at some destinations that were on the fringe of its reach today or even a bit beyond.
READ How Hawaiian's A321neos could benefit Australia and Japan.
“That efficiency, coupled with a bigger size, will really make it a winner on some of the very high load factor routes on our existing network like Japan and, New York (or) Sydney. Particularly in Sydney, our loads are very high here,’’ he said.
“So we see a lot of opportunities both within the current network and beyond the current network.”
