Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner Delayed | Why It’s A Big Deal

A new fleet of Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliners was scheduled to begin arriving here in the islands this year. Now that isn’t going to happen and we will have to wait until at least next year and probably longer. Read on for more about that. The airline has firm orders for 10 of the planes with flatbeds and has purchase rights for 10 more.

Company CEO Peter Ingram said yesterday “Our two 787s that were scheduled to be delivered in 2022 are delayed and we now expect to receive them no earlier than the first half of 2023. The capacity from these aircraft has been removed from our full-year capacity expectation.”

Beat of Hawaii opinion: These ongoing delays are due to manufacturing issues at Boeing as well as Covid-19. We’ll read between the lines here and suggest that these probably won’t come on board until late in 2023 and will go into service hopefully by early 2024. And that’s assuming no further delays.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said this today…

“We are progressing through a comprehensive effort to ensure every airplane (787) in our production system conforms to our exacting specifications. This effort continues to impact our deliveries and our financial results – but we are fully confident it is the right thing to do… We are taking the time now to ensure we’re positioned well as widebody demand recovers. We’ll continue to keep you updated as we progress toward returning to 787 deliveries.”

See details below on What’s wrong with the Dreamliner.

Why Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner is a big deal.

The new Boeing Dreamliners offer greater fuel efficiency and range. This new product is intended to augment but not replace the existing A330 wide-body fleet on long-haul routes including those premium dense markets in the US, like New York, and international destinations, like Sydney, Australia. It isn’t clear whether west coast dense markets such as San Francisco and Los Angeles could also be added to the schedules for their Dreamliners.

Previously, Ingram said of the new Boeing two aisle jets, “the 787 remains the most advanced generation of new aircraft, incredibly fuel-efficient and environmentally efficient, and it is destined to be the flagship of our network. We are still very excited to get it.” Hawaiian COO Jon Snook said this is the plane for Japan, Australia, and New York.

The company has repeatedly expressed interest in Southeast Asia routes, including Singapore for example. It will also be used for domestic premium markets with JFK as one example.

We have felt certain for years that Hawaiian will use this ideal aircraft to enter and succeed in the new Europe-to-Hawaii market via London. The airline said, however, it was not on their immediate wish list of markets. The 787-9 variant, which Hawaiian will receive, is capable of distances up to 7,635 miles from Hawaii. You can expect these new routes to bring with them flight times of up to about 14 hours on the Dreamliner.

Honestly, 14 hours is manageable on that plane, and on the even longer range, Airbus A350-900 used by other carriers. You may recall that before entering into the Dreamliner agreement, Hawaiian was heading towards a new fleet of (shorter range) A350 planes.  

Hawaiian Airlines doubles down on premium configuration for Hawaii visitors.

Hawaiian Airlines is betting big on the importance of premium cabins in the leisure carrier market to the Hawaiian islands. This is a huge change to their prior philosophy, which saw far less importance in premium offerings and is a commitment to Hawaii’s new visitor paradigm. Other regional Pacific carriers including Air Tahiti Nui and Fiji Airways are betting on premium as well.

The Dreamliner, first introduced by former CEO Mark Dunkerley, will launch Hawaiian’s new premium lie-flat business class private pod/suite, designed was by for it by Adient Aerospace, which is a joint venture part-owned by Boeing company. Hawaiian was to be the launch customer in the marketplace for these new Adient business class suites which are vastly different than the lay-flat product which Hawaiian offers on the Airbus A330s.

These follow a new industry-wide trend feature of a “cabana suite” wherein the two center seats can be joined as one for a meal or a movie, and is ideal for honeymoons. Qatar Airways introduced these on their Dreamliners in business class recently (pictured below).

Economy seating (the same used in both regular and premium economy) will be by Ascent, with the major differences being extra legroom and an amenity kit. Details to be announced. Many U.S. airlines don’t sell a true and separate premium economy to Hawaii, although that is becoming more popular and could later be added to the Dreamliners.

Our take on the 787 Dreamliner.

We continue to love the Dreamliner on long-haul flights for its pleasant and spacious feeling cabin, larger electronic shade control windows, lower altitude pressurization, and general wide-body comfort. From a business perspective, it allows Hawaiian a potential dynamic change relative to international competitors including United Airlines, Qantas, JAL, and Nippon Airways.

See details of the new Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner interior here. 

What’s causing the Dreamliner delay now?

The long-troubled plane is said to have some titanium parts that were improperly manufactured. Luckily for Hawaiian, the manufacturer will have some time to rework the problem before thge delayed deliveries begin.

Dreamliner components impacted in the latest issue include those that secure the floor beam in the fuselage, plus other parts. This also compounds a list of prior problems bringing scrutiny about Boeing’s quality control.

Boeing is still struggling with multiple Dreamliner issues that stopped and started deliveries numerous times last year. FAA said too that it was investigating manufacturing defects.

Are you looking forward to the arrival of the new Dreamliner fleet?

Updated 1/26/22.