Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner Flights Begin Amid 787 Safety Concerns

The first commercial flights of the long-awaited Hawaiian Airlines 789 Dreamliner have commenced. Hawaiian Airlines can’t seem to catch a break at the moment, however, given the bad timing in relation to recent Dreamliner safety concerns. And in that regard, today, Newsweek reported that 3/4 of millennials say “they are more worried about flying in the wake of recent high-profile safety lapses at Boeing.”

First new routes featuring Hawaiian Dreamliner.

The plane flew yesterday from Honolulu to San Francisco. It will fly for one month on that route when the second Dreamliner, which arrived last week, enters service. After that, flights will begin to operate on other routes, including Honolulu to Los Angeles and Phoenix. A third plane is planned for arrival later this year, with the remaining plans staggered over the next three years.

Welcoming new plane to Honolulu.

Beat of Hawaii editors plan to try the Dreamliner in the near future. Recently, however, Beat of Hawaii was at Honolulu Airport with Hawaiian executives to tour the new Hawaiian Airlines plane in its entirety.

When Hawaii first ordered these new-car-smelling planes, they planned to fly them to new and more distant destinations, including internationally. Should the planned merger with Alaska be concluded successfully, it isn’t clear where Alaska would choose to deploy these aircraft.

This first Dreamliner arrived three years late.

Their first Dreamliner, named Kapuahi, sat parked for several years during COVID. Now that the planes are flying, they will operate for now, to western US cities, although we expect to see them heading out to longer missions quite soon.

How does the Dreamliner change the Hawaiian Air A330/A321 fleet?

For the most part, it doesn’t. Hawaiian will retain its existing mainland/international fleets of A321neo and A330 aircraft. There are no plans to change those for the foreseeable future. Recently, Hawaiian extended leases set to expire this year on four of the A330 widebody planes, in part due to ongoing A321neo engine problems.

Hawaiian Dreamliner plan began a decade ago.

The new Dreamliners date back to 2014, when Hawaiian bought six Airbus A350-800 aircraft. When those were discontinued by Airbus, that moved the company to a new plan. We believe Boeing gave Hawaiian a sweetheart deal to bring them back to their planes, long before Boeing quality issues began to surface.

Would Hawaiian have done something different, given what they know today? We’d say yes, they might well have stayed with Airbus widebody planes. But that’s water under the bridge at this point.

No premium economy at Hawaiian – yet.

What we deem to be a needed premium economy cabin never materialized. CEO Peter Ingram told us recently that he hasn’t ruled it out for their future, however.

Business class is the focus on Hawaiian Airlines’ Dreamliner.

The plane features new Adient Aerospace lie-flat business seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. These offer direct aisle access and far more comfort and privacy compared with the prior and quirky Optimares A330 business-class lie-flat.

There are 34 of the “Leihōkū” suites with privacy doors. These are the same ones used by Qatar Airways. They have 18-inch monitors, wireless phone charging, and more amenities. The center suites are not the true double-bed type, as seen on some other airlines. These actually face apart in the design to provide the narrow foot cubbies seen under the seat console in front.

How about economy upgrades on the Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner?

We were pleasantly surprised with the legroom and overall comfort in the plane’s economy class. It did feel more spacious to us than on the A330, which itself isn’t bad. And it’s much better compared with the airline’s A321, which we find to be claustrophobic. Economy seats are Collins Aspire, which have new ergonomically contoured back and armrests that claim to maximize living space and provide more shoulder and hip room. These have a 12-inch seatback monitor with both USB-A and USB-C charging ports.

The 79 Extra Comfort seats provide both extra legroom and access to AC power outlets. Otherwise, they are the same as regular economy seats.

Tip: the very best economy seats (Extra Comfort) were two-across bulkhead sets (of which there are only two pairs on the entire plane, pictured above and below).

More about the new Hawaiian Dreamliner and two questions for you.

The plane’s most prominent new feature is its business-class seating. We would also argue that flying the Dreamliner on American Airlines, United Airlines, or Hawaiian Airlines is far more the same than it is different. What can make the largest difference for passengers is associated with the soft product, being everything other than the physical aspects of the plane.

Our questions to you are this. First, have your feelings about flying Dreamliner changed in light of all of the recent issues? And secondly, would you have a preference for one airline’s Dreamliner plane versus another? Mahalo!