Hawaiian Airlines’ punctuality in August lowest in more than 10 years
Hawaiian Airlines has teamed up with local artists to custom-paint its ground-service equipment at Honolulu Airport to reflect the pride of the company’s employees and the spirit of Hawaii. Kamea Hadar and Jasper Wong, co-directors of Pow! Wow! Hawai‘i, worked with a team of artists, along with designer Keola Rapozo of Fitted Hawaii, to cover the vehicles in a camouflage-inspired motif made up of the silhouettes of the Hawaiian Islands. They added reflective orange accents, hand-painted murals and lettering to create a look representative of modern Hawaii’s rich culture. The new look sends a message about the visibility and safety of the airline’s operations while displaying an edgy island design. The vehicles will operate at the airport until Oct. 10 when they go back to their standard paint jobs.
Hawaiian Airlines, which historically is the most punctual carrier in the nation, was knocked off its perch again last month after posting its lowest on-time performance in more than 10 years.
The state’s largest carrier slipped to third place in August for punctuality to mark the third time this year and fourth time since December that it hasn’t been ranked No. 1, according to data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Hawaiian arrived on time on just 81.5 percent of its flights, slightly above the national average of 80.3 percent from the 13 reporting airlines. Delta Air Lines (85.5 percent) and Alaska Airlines (82.9 percent) occupied the top two spots.
Hawaiian spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said that since the company began reporting statistics to the DOT in January 2004 that its on-time performance always has been above 81.5 percent.
A flight is counted as "on time" by the DOT if it arrives within 14 minutes of the scheduled time.
Heading into 2015, Hawaiian had led U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 11 years beginning in 2004. Hawaiian has been first in five of the eight months reported so far this year.
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Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian, blamed the drop on a confluence of events, including a shortage of gates due to increased airlift and the state’s airport modernization project.
