Here are the top two choices for Hawaiian Airlines’ 717 replacement.
24 thoughts on “An Era Ending Soon | Hawaiian Airlines 717 Interisland”
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Here are the top two choices for Hawaiian Airlines’ 717 replacement.
Comments are closed.
I think the A220 would be a great replacement for the 717. Having flown the Delta versions, they actually have larger overhead storage than most current jets. They also have bigger windows. They are much more eco-friendly and efficient which is great for the islands.
The engines are not ideal for high cycles and short hops. “High geared” from what I learned and as such will never be very efficient.
When it comes to having fun and sightseeing at the same time (as well as avoiding the ridiculously long times in terminal) I love Mokulele.
Been flying the airlines since I was a child. DC-9 favorite it was such a proud looking aircraft! I use to call it the “proud bird” of Hawaii.Keep that beautiful tail on your birds please. I am nearly seventy now would like to see those tails in the sky! Thank you!
I remember flying on Hawaiian’s predecessor aircraft which were DC 9-50s not 30s. To show how long I have been flying to Hawaii, I also remember flying on Mid-Pacific’s YS11s.
How I happily remember the DC-3’s….. comfort!! And reliable.
You said ” (E2’s 2×2 interior below)”, but the photo is missing.
Hi Rob.
Thanks. The image is there now.
Aloha.
So I see a picture of the E2’s 2×2 interior where the picture of the A220’s 3×2 interior is, but there is a picture of a 717 on a runway where the picture of the E2’s 2×2 interior should be.
Thanks for keeping an eye on this topic.
The 717 are quieter than the DC-9 if I remember correctly
Hi Paul.
Thanks for checking and reporting on that. We think the images are all sorted out now. If not, please let us know. And yes, the 717 engines are quieter. Pretty much the same as comparing a 732 to a 738 in terms of engine noise.
Aloha.
Oh dear. Airbus try to position the A220 as a smaller version of a 3 series but it is much more a Regional Jet. Very cramped and will no doubt usher in all the checked carry ons with broken computers that Hawaiian will not pay for. I love the 717’s, the MD80’s and the DC9’s. The Embraer is actually not a bad aircraft but it is a Regional Jet also with all that entails. Any chance of bringing the Super Ferry back?
Hi Rich.
There will not be a ferry in Hawaii. That, at least, is very clear.
Aloha.
Sorry, my comment was meant to be ironic…
Keep in mind that the A-220 is NOT a design of Airbus. The original design was by Bombardier as a regional jet and was named the CS-100. Airbus bought the C series (I am not sure if they also got control of Bombardier). Airbus rebranded the plane as the A-220. It is NOT part of the A 3 series at all.
A bit of useless trivia on the 717.
They do not have the range to fly from Seattle (the factory) to Hawaii. So they remove the seats (or just not install them) and install large fuel tanks in the cabin. Then once they arrive the cabin tanks are removed and the seats are installed.
images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=Awr46udPmYxhxw8AYEksnIlQ?p=717+fuel+tanks&hsimp=yhs-att_001&hspart=att&type=sbc_dial%2Fhp-banner-v2Aug27&fr=yhs-att-att_001&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Apivot#id=26&iurl=htt
Factory was in Long Beach
In 2008, as I settled into my seat on the 717 going from Honolulu to Hilo, I wondered “how in the world did they get these here since they don’t have the range?” Ferry tanks. I’ve seen a picture of the cabin with enough seats removed to accommodate the 4 200 gallon tanks. Being a Rolls-Royce engineer, proud to be on the team providing the powerplants.
It would certainly please me if HA were to purchase an American made plane rather than a foreign one which are all subsidized in their manufacture, in some way, by their governments.
The one challenge that Hawaiian will need to overcome is how the engines on these new generation planes will fare with the short hop action that is interisland. One way to overcome that is to do what Southwest does with their 737-800’s and 8-max jets – fly them over from the mainland, have them do a couple of hops interisland, and then fly them back to the mainland. I suspect that is one option that Hawaiian could do in better utilizing the A320 NEO.
…..to even out the wear and to vary the severity of the cycles in the cycle count?
Stan, that works for Southwest because they have the massive route network on the mainland where aircraft can fly out to Hawaii, hop among the islands, and then ‘slip’ back into their huge route network on the mainland. Hawaiian doesn’t have that same luxury… their network is hubbed in HNL with flights out to the usual mainland cities, particularly along the west coast. Hawaiian’s interisland network is so high-frequency that it needs its own dedicated interisland fleet to serve that part of its network. Imagine if you had to wait for inbound flights from Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoneix etc (5, 6 hours at least) before an aircraft becomes available to hop from HNL to KOA, etc? It might work for a small percentage of interisland flights.