Spirit of Aloha | Message of Aloha | January/February 2006

The Best Is Yet to Come

Aloha and welcome aboard. Aloha Airlines is embarked on its 60th year of serving Hawai‘i. You’ll be hearing more about our anniversary later in the year as we get closer to the actual anniversary date of our first flight, back on July 26, 1946.

It occurs to me that the first months of a new year are a bit like walking around in shiny new shoes. There’s a certain brightness and excitement to starting out on a new path, knowing that there is a string of stepping stones ahead of you; and yet there’s a little discomfort and trepidation about how those first steps will position you for what is to come.

We know where we came from and what lies behind us. Aloha has a long tradition of bringing good things to flying. Though not the oldest airline in Hawai‘i’s skies, Aloha was a pioneer of many of the things that Island travelers now take for granted. Among them were a smoke-free environment before it was mandated, Hawai‘i’s first frequent-flyer club and the first marketing alliance with a Mainland carrier, United Airlines. Aloha was first to introduce one-call-does-it-all reservations for air, car and hotel packages, branded MasterCard and Visa credit cards with First Hawaiiian Bank, drive-through check-in, curbside check-in and e-ticketing, to name but a few.

Aloha was also first to install automatic external defibrillators on every aircraft and provide MedLink access to emergency physicians so that flight crews can attend to passengers who experience medical problems inflight.

In the interisland market, Aloha pioneered all-night, air- cargo flights and it is still the only airline to provide this essential service to shippers. In the trans-Pacific realm, Aloha was the first U.S. airline certified to fly Boeing 737-700 aircraft on extended operations over water, enabling us to provide nonstop service between the Islands and smaller, more convenient airports, including those at Oakland and Orange County.

The airline business is dynamic and that means changing with the times. The “low-cost model” that has proven so successful in some markets has created a ripple effect that continues to impact the entire industry.

Some things haven’t changed. Aloha has a tried and true philosophy for serving our customers. In keeping with our name, which means love and compassion, everyone on the Aloha team is committed to providing exceptional service by exemplifying the aloha spirit in whatever we do. More than at any other airline I’ve worked at, Aloha’s employees treat each other as family, in the spirit called ‘ohana. We train employees to treat customers with prompt attention, respect, courtesy, empathy and friendliness. In most cases, however, this spirit of caring comes from the heart, and I think that shows. No matter how far we progress, we don’t want to abandon these roots.

At Aloha, we are constantly looking for ways to make flying more convenient. For one thing, we have made it possible for you to print a boarding pass from your personal computer on the day before you travel, so you don’t have to wait in line for an agent to print one out at the airport. For the same reason, we’ve provided kiosks for automated check-in at the airport. We’re also working with a company called BaggageDirect, which can pick up your baggage from your home or office on the day before you fly, and issue your baggage tags and boarding passes on the spot.

Like the actor/author Peter Ustinov, I’m an eternal optimist and I believe the best days of Aloha Airlines lie ahead. We look forward to serving you this year and for many years to come.

Let me know how we’re doing.                                                                                                                          

Message of Aloha Archives