Hawaiian Airlines Launches Direct Brisbane - Honolulu Flights

Hawaiian Airlines has launched nonstop flights between Brisbane and Honolulu, flying three times weekly to Hawaii and beyond to 11 U.S. mainland cities.

Hawaiian’s inaugural flight earlier today recalls the famed transpacific flight of the Southern Cross, which in June 1928 – the year before Hawaiian Airlines was founded – became the first aircraft to fly from Hawaii to Brisbane. Originating from Oakland, California, the Southern Cross captured international headlines with its successful completion of the world’s longest journey by air at the time. Flown by Australian aviation pioneers Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm, the tri-engine Fokker monoplane took approximately 83 hours to journey from Kaua‘i to Brisbane’s Eagle Farm airfield, stopping en route in Fiji for the pilots to take a one-day rest break.

Today’s Inaugural flight to Honolulu is expected to take nine hours and 15 minutes.

In honour of Kingsford Smith and Ulm’s feat, Hawaiian has placed a commemorative image of the Southern Cross near the cockpit window of the Boeing 767-300ER aircraft operating today’s flight.

Mark Dunkerley, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Airlines, noted the historic flight of the Southern Cross occurred just over one year before Hawaiian’s own first flight – a much shorter journey from Honolulu on the island of Oahu to Ma’alaea on the neighbor island of Maui.

“The flight by Kingsford Smith and Ulm was a pioneering journey, which not only proved the capabilities of the Southern Cross but demonstrated to the world the whole concept of long distance air travel,” said Mr. Dunkerley. “Today, more than 84 years later, I am delighted to be in Brisbane to welcome our own inaugural flight from Hawaii to the Queensland capital, and to celebrate the commencement of our new scheduled services from Brisbane to Honolulu.”

Hawaiian Airlines already operates daily flights between Sydney and Honolulu, with connections from throughout Australia with partner airline Virgin Australia. Mr. Dunkerley said continued strong growth in demand for travel from Australia to Hawaii convinced Hawaiian to introduce more flights.

“Last year, 189,000 Australians visited Hawaii – more than double the number who visited before we started flying to Australia in 2004,” Mr. Dunkerley said. “We selected Brisbane as our second Australia gateway not only because of the high number of Queenslanders visiting Hawaii, but also because Brisbane Airport is perfectly positioned as a gateway for passengers from throughout Australia.”

In addition to the three services each week from Brisbane, Hawaiian also will operate 18 supplementary flights between March and May 2013, to explore new schedule options which enable travellers from the U.S. mainland to fly to Brisbane via Honolulu.

“Brisbane is a gateway not only to south east Queensland but to the rest of the Sunshine State, from the Great Barrier Reef to the legendary outback, both of which are iconic and popular drawcards for visitors from the United States,” Mr. Dunkerley said. “Our Brisbane services will add more than 41,000 seats annually between Australia and Hawaii and increase our total capacity from Australia by 38%.”

Hawaiian’s Brisbane flights will be operated with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, seating 264 passengers in a two class cabin –18 in Business Class and 246 in Economy Class.

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