Hawaiian Airlines Chooses Airbus A330-800neo Over A350-800 XWB

Hawaiian Airlines today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus to acquire six new A330-800neo aircraft starting in 2019, with rights to purchase an additional six aircraft.

The order replaces Hawaiian Airline's existing order for six A350-800 XWB aircraft, which were due for delivery from 2017. Hawaiian Airline's overall capital commitments will also decrease in absolute terms and will be pushed further into the future. For the period through the end of 2018, this amounts to $500 million.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the aircraft have a total list-price value of approximately $2.9 billion if all of the purchase rights are exercised.

"The A330-800neo's fuel efficiency, additional range and commonality with our existing A330 fleet makes the A330-800neo an elegant solution to our need for growth aircraft toward the end of this decade," said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian Airlines president and chief executive officer.

The A330-800neo wide-body is similar in size to Hawaiian Airline's A330-200 which seats 294 passengers in a two class configuration (First and Coach), and will incorporate aerodynamic enhancements and new cabin features. The new aircraft will have up to a 400-nautical mile increase in range and reduced fuel consumption by 14% per seat with the latest generation Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines.

Hawaiian Airlines currently operates a fleet of 50 aircraft, comprised of 29 wide-body, long-haul aircraft (294-seat A330-200 aircraft and 252 to 264-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft), 18 narrow-body 118 to 123-seat Boeing 717-200 aircraft and three 48-seat ATR42-500 for neighbour island flights.

Hawaiian Airline's existing orders include an additional four new A330-200s for delivery by 2015 and 16 narrow-body A321neo aircraft starting in 2017.