We have watched airplanes come and go over the years, but this one feels different for reasons that have nothing to do with paint or press releases.
The first-ever built Hawaiian Dreamliner we awaited, photographed, and wrote about is now gone from the islands. N780HA, named Kālepa, has left Honolulu and gone in for repainting. Not storage. Not a new Hawaiian route. A new identity entirely.
This is not about mourning an airplane. It is about watching a plane built specifically for Hawaiian’s future head off to live out a very different life.
Built early. Arrived late. Left quickly.
Kālepa first flew on June 18, 2021. It was the first of Hawaiian’s Dreamliners to be built, and then it sat for a long time. Storage came first, not service, as Hawaiian’s widebody plans waited for the world to make up its mind during Covid.
When deliveries finally resumed, this aircraft actually arrived second. N780HA touched down in Honolulu on April 11, 2024, after its sister ship, N781HA, named Kapuahi, had already taken the spotlight. Built first but delivered second. We’re not sure why. But it was a preview of how this airplane would first be used.
We remember Kapuahi across the tarmac during the Dreamliner rollout, parked at the Hawaiian Air hangar (BOH © photo above). Fresh paint. Clean lines. A Dreamliner that looked nothing like the rest of Hawaiian’s fleet. It stood out immediately, and it was clearly meant to.
Inside the Dreamliner moment.
Before Kālepa ever flew a passenger, we were already inside Hawaiian’s Dreamliner vision. In February 2024, BOH attended Hawaiian’s 787 program introduction and toured N781HA – Kapuahi, the first Dreamliner delivered to the fleet, alongside then CEO Peter Ingram and other executives. This was not pitched as an experiment. It was presented as the future. Hawaiians’ long-haul answer. Their next chapter.
Hawaii’s pride in the Dreamliner was unmistakable, both inside and outside the airline. The cabin felt modern, quiet, and competitive, but still very Hawaiian. It was easy to imagine these planes flying far beyond the mainland. London came up. Asia definitely. Not as fantasy, but as intent.
When Kālepa arrived two months later, it felt like part of that very same story. Built first but delivered second, it was another piece of a plan that finally seemed to be moving forward.
Service that barely had time to settle in.
Kālepa entered passenger service on May 14, 2024, flying between the mainland and Hawaii. For travelers who pay attention to aircraft types, the Dreamliner was a welcome change. Quieter. Smoother. Different. And better in most ways. But its window was to be short.
By October 2025, the Dreamliners were already being pulled off the Los Angeles routes. The aircraft meant to expand Hawaiian’s reach was quietly shrinking back instead. Destined for new and hopeful futures elsewhere.
On October 24, 2025, BOH editors flew Hawaiian’s Dreamliner from Los Angeles to Honolulu, just as Kālepa’s Hawaiian service was coming to an end. We already knew at the time that this was to be the second to the last time Dreamliner would fly that route in Hawaiian colors.
That mood on board thatOctober flight was not subtle.
Crew members talked openly about what was happening. There was real sadness, not speculation. Pride in the airplane was still abundant, but it was mixed with the knowledge that this phase was ending, and doing so quickly.
The flight itself was excellent. Quiet, elegant, smooth, and exactly what the Dreamliner was supposed to be. We took plenty of photos, not because we thought it was historic, but because it felt worth documenting. Only later did it become crystal clear just how final those images would be.
Leaving the islands.
On January 7, 2026, Kālepa made its final flight in Hawaiian service, flying from Honolulu to Seattle. The following day, it continued on to Fort Worth, Texas, where it is being repainted.
It is the first of Hawaiian’s four in-service Dreamliners to be ferried out for repainting. Not the last. Just the first one to go. Once the paint comes off, there is no casual return.
A compressed timeline says a lot.
- Completed in June 2021.
- Storage.
- Delivered into service in April 2024.
- Ferried out for repainting in Alaska livery in January 2026.
For an aircraft meant to anchor long-term growth, its life in Hawaiian colors was remarkably brief.
What this plane is headed toward.
The irony is hard to miss. Kālepa was built for the kind of flying Hawaiian talked about for years but was never quite able to reach. Long-haul international routes. Global destinations. Flights beyond the mainland.
That future did not disappear. It just moved elsewhere. This Dreamliner will keep flying for many years. It will likely cross the oceans that Hawaiian once had on its own wish list. It will do exactly what it was designed to do, just under a different name and different colors.
Looking back at the photos now.
Scrolling through our photos tells a strange story. The excitement of arrival. The optimism of the Dreamliner introduction. A passenger flight just before the end. Each image marks a phase of an aircraft that never had the chance to fade naturally into the fleet. It arrived, peaked quickly, and moved on.
Some passengers will never know they flew on Kālepa or even a Dreamliner. They will not know the names or the moments these represented. That is how airplanes usually work.
But for those who watched this one closely, it feels like a clean handoff of a future that Hawaiian imagined but never quite got to pull off.
Did you ever fly on one of Hawaiian’s Dreamliners, or notice how quickly they seemed to appear and then slip away?
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I look forward to flying on it from Seattle to London in August.
I predicted this. When Hawaiian abruptly cancelled it’s Airbus order in favor of Boeing, I said “they’re going to be bought out by AS
That is so sad.
For the future of Hawaiian Airlines.
And this is all about money.
We are the second or first state that pays a lot of taxes. For what? For this to happen
Call me crazy, but I was expecting an article about a Hawaiian Airlines plane getting repainted to an Alaska Airlines livery to include a picture of the new Alaska livery.
For a brief time, Hawaiian scheduled the 787 from LAX-OGG. The day it was announced I jumped online and booked tickets. About 6 weeks later the 787 was removed from the Maui route and the A330 was back on flight 33. Yeah, I was bummed, thinking we would be on an inaugural flight and then –nothing to be excited about. Never flew a Hawaiian 787, I suppose I never will.
I wouldn’t call it a clean handoff. Interiors are still Hawaiian and the crews are also Hawaiian. Very confusing and diluted level of service with confused crews not knowing if they should say Hawaiian or Alaska. Also who wants to fly cold dreary Alaska when you can fly with the spirit of the islands. Alaska really fumbled here….they should’ve leaned heavily into the brand that is already international.
Mark my words eventually they’ll be no Dreamliners in Hawaiian colors. It wouldn’t shock me if eventually Hawaiian is all narrow-body aircraft. The airline we all loved is gone….
On 09/09/2025, I flew on this Hawaiian 787 (N780HA) from Honolulu to New York. My first time flying on the 787. It was also my first time flying on Hawaiian Airlines despite the fact born and raised here for many years. I truly loved the Hawaiian 787 and it was awesome! I’m mourning that the 787s will no longer be in Hawaiian colors. However, eventually that A330s will be retired and I hope the 787s will make a come back to Hawaiian.
I flew on N780HA in May 2024; it was my first flight ever on 787. I took lots of photos of it while it was at the gate in HNL. And…I knew this was going to happen but not when exactly…it’s only January! I live near Seattle and am an Alaska Airlines elite, but I opened a mileage account with Hawaiian many years ago…just didn’t actually get to fly on the airline until 2023! So I’ve been sad–and am still sad–that the Pualani livery on the 787s has to disappear.
I’ve never seen a more incompetent airline than Alaska Airlines.
They think buying Dreamliners—while drowning in new debt—will magically put them on Delta or United’s level. It won’t.
Seattle as a global hub doesn’t work, and stripping Hawaii of planes instead of growing Hawaiian into an Asia powerhouse shows a clueless, head-in-the-sand mindset.
The Brand they bought was the Hawaiian/ Asia market on a silver platter.
They will never be a big international european player.
A paint job to a less popular Alaska brand will not draw more money for international flights.
The airline thinks: “Let’s buy big toys so we look like Delta etc.
We can fly to Europe too from Seattle.” Not going to work out of Seattle.
Fyi:
I’ve flown Dreamliners on other airlines—nothing special. 3-3-3 seating is a stupid
And the A321 ? A flying tin can 3-3 seating.
Which Alaska thinks people will want to fly from West coast to Hawaii.
Pathetic and uncomfortable.
Dreamliner under Hawaiian is/was a gorgeous plane. Spacious, comfortable, quiet, the air was cleaner/nicer and had good humidity levels so you don’t get dehydrated like on many other planes, huge (clean, unscratched) windows, fantastic Hawaiian service on board. We flew to/from NYC on one and will miss it. Now we just hope Hawaiian/Alaska keeps flying that nonstop route (HNL-JFK) on the A330s. If they don’t, we’ll have to look at other airlines, something we never wanted to do!
CEO Peter Ingram’s salary of $4.5 million in 2023 and a payout of $13.5 million by Alaska in 2024 explain why Hawaiian Air is grounded.
Jeff & Rob –
What a beautiful piece of writing. You convey all the sadness possible. I only wish we had gotten to fly on that vehicle which seemed to be a conscious return to the Aloha vibes of long ago that my parents always spoke of.
Thank you for sharing.
kc