Hawaiian Airlines marks its 90th anniversary

One after another, the world’s oldest airlines are reaching remarkable milestones. Last month it was KLM celebrating its centenary with a big party in Amsterdam.

This week, on the other side of the planet, Hawaiian Airlines marked its 90th anniversary.

On 11th November 1929, Hawaiian (which at the time was called Inter-Island Airways) started scheduled service with a pair of Sikorsky S-38 amphibious aircraft (prior to starting scheduled services, Hawaiian Airlines’ founder, Stanley Kennedy, a WWI veteran, offered panoramic flights over O’ahu on a small Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker aircraft, at $5 the ride).

A Sikorsky S-38 like the one that kicked off Hawaiian Airlines scheduled services. Source :Wikipedia

This time the celebratory flight, aptly designated as HA1111, was in a more modern (although increasingly rare to see) aircraft, a Boeing 717, retracing that first flight from Honolulu to Hilo, with a Maui stopover in between.

Flight attendants on HA1111 wore vintage uniforms (from the 1960s to 1990s) and shared with the passengers some interesting facts about the history of Hawaiian Airlines, such as the extent to which the introduction of air travel shortened travel times between islands. It took up to 14 hours by boat to travel between Honolulu and Hilo, whereas the S-38s brought this time went down to 3h 15min.

Passengers on this commemorative flight got a special copy of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper with the big news in the headline: “Inter-Island air service starts” and, what’s more, a birthday card with a gift of 90,000 HawaiianMiles (or two round trips to the continental US!)

In parallel to this, the Great Hawaiian Plane Pull, a fund-raising event, saw 68 12-strong teams competing in trying to pull a Boeing 717. This event raised $33,000 for Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, an organization that helps preserves the archipelago’s coastline.