Hawaiian Airlines has welcomed the first of 12 new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft at Honolulu International Airport (HNL).
The Boeing 787-9 left Charleston International Airport (CHS) in South Carolina, United States (US), fresh from the Dreamliner assembly line, on February 14, 2024, just before 5:30 pm local time.
The brand-new jet touched down on the island of Hawaii at around 10:30 pm after a ten-hour flight.
Although the widebody aircraft, registered N781HA, is the first 787-9 to be delivered to Hawaiian Airlines, it was not the first to leave the Boeing factory.
The aircraft in question, N780HA, was placed in storage in San Antonio, Texas, before being flown to Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) in July 2023.
Around the same time, Boeing notified the island airline that deliveries of the 787s scheduled for 2023 and 2024 would be delayed by a couple of months.
Hawaiian Airlines entered into a purchase agreement for the acquisition of 10 Boeing 787-9s in July 2018.
Then, in December 2022, the airline exercised a purchase option for an additional two 787-9 aircraft.
In an SEC Filing on February 15, 2024, Hawaiian Airlines confirmed that it had taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft under a purchase assignment and leaseback transaction.
Hawaiian’s new flagship aircraft will debut on April 15, 2024, operating a daily service between Honolulu and San Francisco through to May 14, 2024.
This will be followed by select flights between HNL and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from May 14, 2024, and HNL and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) from May 15, 2024.
The last of the 12 Dreamliners is expected to be delivered to Hawaiian Airlines in 2027.
