Hawaiian could
consider electric aircraft for inter-island flights: CEO
Hawaiian Airlines
may consider acquiring electric aircraft in the future for its inter-island
flights, chief executive Peter Ingram says on 27 July.
The
Honolulu-headquartered carrier, which operates a robust network of
connections to neighbour islands with a fleet of 19 ageing Boeing 717s,
will be looking to replace them with more modern aircraft in the coming
decade.
According to
Cirium fleets data, the 128-seat jets, which fly up to 16 cycles every day
in punishing tropical conditions, have an average age of 19.3 years.
“Neighbour island
routes provide an interesting application for electrification of aircraft,”
Ingram says on the airline’s quarterly analyst call. “We have a lot of
traffic that travels between 100 and 250 miles, so the replacement with
electric aircraft on those routes is more foreseeable rather than [an
aircraft] that has to fly 2,500 miles to get to the West Coast.”
Hawaii is an
archipelago about 2,500nm (4,000km) southwest of the US mainland. The
airline serves five airports on four of the islands with an average of 135
daily flights.
In addition, it
flies to the US mainland as well as international long-haul connections
with a fleet of 18 Airbus A321neos and 24 A330s. Long-haul destinations in
the Pacific Rim include Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and
American Samoa.
The airline has 10
Boeing 787 Dreamliners on order from the Chicago-based airframer, which
will begin entering the fleet in 2022.
But that said, the
electrification of regional aircraft along with the battery technology may
not yet be mature enough in time for when the 717s begin exiting the fleet,
Ingram says.
“The technology is
still a ways off,” Ingram says. “I can see it, but it may be a generation
or two of replacement aircraft [first].”
The first electric
aircraft that might be be considered a replacement for the 717 will not
likely be available for commercial use until the mid-2030s, he adds
In any case, the
airline is interested in learning more as the industry segment develops.
“We are trying to
understand the landscape and the direction in which some of the producers
are going,” Ingram says.
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