Hawaiian posts $97m Q3 loss, details 787 delivery delays

Hawaiian Airlines posted a $97m loss in Q3 as the state’s coronavirus-driven quarantine requirements hampered air travel demand – and the airline’s recovery. The Honolulu-based carrier on 27 October also detailed the agreement it reached with Boeing earlier this month to delay deliveries of its long-awaited 787-9 Dreamliners. Hawaiian has ten orders with the Chicago-based airframer, which were due to begin delivering in early 2021. Now, the carrier says the first example will arrive in September 2022 and enter service the following year. The rest will be delivered by 2026. “The 787 is a terrific airplane and will be a vital part of our fleet in the future,” CE Peter Ingram says during the company’s quarterly earnings call. “But we don’t need it in 2021.” The aircraft were due to replace the airline’s Airbus A330-200s on long-haul routes to Asia, as well as to Boston and New York City, two of the longest domestic flights in the world. “It’s less about a change in our view of the long term and more about the fact that short-term we are just in a dramatically different demand environment than we were at the beginning of this year,” Ingram says. “The complexity of entering a new fleet into the business, and the inherent inefficiency – it’s a lumpy process when you go through it. We wanted to move that to the right a bit to allow us to focus in 2020 and 2021, to stabilise and restore the business, and we will be in a much better place in 2022.”<br/>