Say aloha to an upgraded flying expertise when touring with Hawaiian Airways.
On Monday, the Honolulu-based provider formally unveiled the cabins for its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, which can begin coming into the fleet in November.
The business-class cabin options an all-new seat for Hawaiian, dubbed the Leihoku Suite. In the meantime, the economic system cabin options facilities that ought to make for a extra comfy trip, together with seatback screens, energy ports and extra.
A handful of different nose-to-tail touches will undoubtedly make this aircraft the flagship in Hawaiian’s fleet.
With 12 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on order, you’ll quickly see these fuel-efficient planes crisscrossing the Pacific to locations throughout the mainland and Asia.
Right here’s every part you’ll want to find out about Hawaiian’s new Dreamliners.
Enterprise class on Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner
When its Dreamliners enter service, Hawaiian Airways will lastly supply a top-notch business-class product. These twin-aisle jets will function 34 business-class suites unfold throughout seven rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Hawaiian went with Adient Aerospace’s Ascent product for its business-class cabin; the provider is advertising and marketing it because the Leihoku, or garland of stars, suite.
Although Hawaiian is being touted because the launch buyer for this new product, Qatar Airways truly already flies these suites on board its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. (Hawaiian was imagined to be the primary airline to fly the Ascent product, however supply delays meant that Qatar beat it to the punch.)
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Actually, I’ve flown the Ascent product on Qatar’s Dreamliners, and it is a supremely comfy pod, particularly as soon as the sliding doorways are closed.
Maybe most curiously, the product blends an outward- and inward-facing format throughout the cabin. The window pods face away from the aisle to maximise privateness, whereas the middle seats face one another.
Although this format might not be fascinating in markets with numerous solo flyers, it truly works completely for Hawaiian’s leisure-focused demographic.
That is as a result of a lot of the provider’s flyers aren’t touring for enterprise. “We’ve got much more {couples}, we have much more households, we now have much more girls truly within the business-class cabin,” Avi Mannis, chief advertising and marketing and communications officer at Hawaiian Airways, mentioned in an interview with TPG.
The middle seats on this product are going to be good for the provider’s demographic, Mannis added. Flyers can decrease the three-tiered privateness partition to the ground. As soon as the suite doorways are closed, they’ll “create this actually beautiful lounge expertise for 2 individuals touring collectively … we expect that is going to be extremely interesting for our market,” he mentioned.
Different facilities embody an 18-inch leisure display screen, common AC, USB-A and USB-C shops and Qi wi-fi charging pads.
When it is time to relaxation, every seat converts into a completely lie-flat mattress. Higher but, Hawaiian even put in starry ceiling lights above the business-class cabin to boost the sleep expertise on its Dreamliners. This can be a premium function popularized by Emirates that I have not seen a U.S. airline copy but.
Hawaiian is advertising and marketing this temper lighting as evoking the constellations that guided Polynesian voyagers at evening. That is a part of the design technique that the airline created with famed guide Teague to honor Pacific naval navigation in a contemporary plane.
Financial system class on Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Along with enterprise class, the Dreamliners will boast 266 economic system seats in an industry-standard 3-3-3 configuration. The airline tapped Collins Aerospace to ship the producer’s well-liked Aspire seat in coach.
Hawaiian touts that these seats function extra shoulder and hip room because of a contemporary design, however they are not practically as effectively padded as another economic system seats within the skies.
Whereas most seats will supply 31 inches of pitch, 79 economic system seats might be bought as Further Consolation, providing 4 extra inches of pitch, extra legroom and entry to common AC shops.
All coach seats, together with these within the Further Consolation part, will function USB-A and USB-C charging ports, in addition to 12-inch seatback TV screens.
Nostril-to-tail options on Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Hawaiian likes to infuse native tradition into the passenger expertise, and that design ethos could be very a lot making its means on board the provider’s new Dreamliners. “We pushed for personalization of little particulars that others would not have considered or bothered with,” Mannis mentioned.
The welcome space subsequent to Door 2L is impressed by Hawaii’s native wooden grains, whereas the purple overhead gentle on this space is patterned like an area flower.
The nose-to-tail temper lighting supposedly displays scenes from the Hawaiian archipelago, together with gentle daylight and soothing sunrises and sunsets. The carpeting’s deep aqua shade is designed to present an ocean vibe.
Different touches embody the Hawaiian language built-in into the seat numbers and on placards all through the aircraft. Even the rest room occupancy indicators are designed with Hawaiian attire and shirts for the feminine and male figures.
Irrespective of the place you look, you will simply acknowledge that you simply’re flying with Hawaiian Airways.
What’s lacking on Hawaiian’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner
A number of notable issues are lacking from Hawaiian’s new Dreamliners.
The primary is a premium economic system cabin. This cabin has soared in recognition lately, because it affords an elevated expertise that largely mimics home first-class with out breaking the financial institution for a lie-flat business-class suite.
The Massive Three U.S. airways all fly jets geared up with premium economic system on choose long-haul routes to Hawaii, but the state’s flag provider determined to not make investments on this cabin on the Dreamliner.
“Our sense was that the demand was such that the cabin must be fairly small,” Mannis mentioned. He mentioned {that a} one- or two-row premium economic system cabin would not be economically viable due to all the additional bulkhead and galley house that will be essential to help such a product.
Moreover, Hawaiian’s Dreamliners will not function Bluetooth connectivity to pair your AirPods or different wi-fi headphones with the seatback leisure system. That is a disgrace for a brand-new aircraft delivered in 2023.
One other lacking amenity is energy shops in the usual economic system seats. Nonetheless, that was an intentional selection on Hawaiian’s half — partly to persuade some flyers to improve to the Further Consolation seats, which do function shops.
Lastly, the Dreamliners won’t initially be fitted with Wi-Fi. Although Hawaiian has partnered with Elon Musk’s Starlink to supply quick and free Wi-Fi throughout its medium- and long-haul fleet, the Dreamliners will not function web entry till “the following yr or so,” in accordance with Mannis.
As stunning as it could appear, Hawaiian is prioritizing different planes for Starlink installations earlier than the Dreamliner.
Backside line
Hawaiian’s Dreamliners appear to be a large enchancment in comparison with its current Airbus A330s, particularly for these seated within the pointy finish of the aircraft.
With a top-notch product that options direct aisle entry and sliding doorways, Hawaiian will quickly supply among the finest premium merchandise on routes to and from Hawaii.
Hawaiian will take supply of its first of 12 Dreamliners in November, with the remaining deliveries deliberate by means of 2027.
The airline will begin flying the planes to the West Coast, the place it operates upkeep bases, earlier than deploying its 787s on longer routes to Boston, Sydney and past.
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