Hawaiian Flight Faced “Emergency,” Returned to New York Quickly

A Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 that was bound from New York to Honolulu instead returned quickly to New York. We learned of the issue from Kalani Pe`a, a well-known Hawaii singer, songwriter, entertainer, and educator. He’s also a three-time Grammy Award winner.

“14.4 (hrs) on a plane from NYC direct flight to HNL. We had a three hour emergency landing turned around back to NYC before taking flight again. Better safe than sorry.”

Kalani Pe`a, who was onboard HA 51 JFK-HNL

Before this, it’s been some weeks of generally smooth sailing for Hawaii flights, except for MAX 9 cancellations and other intermittent delays. That is until today when Hawaiian Flight 51 experienced a mid-flight diversion.

The 14-year-old plane, with registration N380HA, took off from JFK Sunday at 10:11 am and was back on the ground at JFK again at 10:38 am. Whatever the cause, the diversion occurred quickly for reasons we hope to learn soon. The same plane returned to the air at 12:57 pm and arrived in Honolulu at 6:51 pm. Apparently, the next planned flights for that aircraft, which were to have been to and from Austin, were canceled due to scheduling.

Flight diversions, such as today’s, are triggered by diverse factors such as medical emergencies, adverse weather conditions, disruptive behavior, and mechanical problems. It isn’t clear which of those issues occurred today.

Flights bound for Hawaii adhere to strict ETOPS regulations, specifically addressing mechanical issues, given the routes involve crossing the world’s longest expanse of ocean without designated diversion points. The eleven hour New York to Honolulu spends approximately the last 5 1/2 hours over the Pacific before arriving in Hawaii.