Spirit of Aloha | Message of Aloha | May/June 2005

Back to the Future

Aloha and welcome aboard. Recalling the early days a century ago when he and his brother Orville were experimenting with their flying machines, Wilbur Wright said: “We could hardly wait to get up in the morning.” I’m the same way. I love to get up early and get to work, even though each day brings new challenges for those of us in the airline industry, not the least of which is skyrocketing fuel costs. Nevertheless, I’m as eternally optimistic as I am pragmatic, and see a bright future ahead for Aloha Airlines.

I got my start in the airline business at a time when the Jet Age was revolutionizing transportation. A new generation of aircraft was beckoning Americans to travel long distances by air as if flying across the continent was as natural as jumping on a bus. You’re probably dressed casually and comfortably for today’s flight. Back then, men wore coats and ties and women got all dressed up when they traveled by air. Security concerns were limited to the occasional diversion of a flight to Cuba. The Civil Aeronautics Board made sure there were no startup carriers, and no brash, low-cost competition to rob the flagship airlines of their profits.

The deregulation of the industry in 1978 ushered in a new era of unfettered competition that brought about the demise of many of the air carriers we knew, including TWA, Air Cal, PSA, Eastern, Western and Braniff; and the events of Sept. 11, 2001, cast the dynamically changing airline industry into chaos.

Consumers have seen inflight service on many airlines go from a full meal to pretzels and peanuts, or sandwiches for sale in the aisle. On Aloha, we happily still serve full meals on our trans-Pacific flights and we believe they are among the best you’ll find on any airline flying to and from Hawai‘i.

In order to remain competitive and offer our customers value, we’re trying new things. Sometimes what’s old is new. Take, for instance, our inflight entertainment. For the past five years, Aloha has been showing the same type of movies that other airlines show. It’s a fairly standard practice for airlines to show new releases that turn out to be the films that have just been released to video stores and cable channels. Customers tell us they’ve already seen these movies, or they’re not interested in the type of movies that are coming out. We’re trying something different by showing movies that are proven crowd-pleasers of the highest quality. We call them Aloha’s Favorite Movies. They’re Academy Award-winning films that you may have missed or that you may enjoy seeing again. We think you’ll like what you see.

Speaking of awards, Aloha Airlines is especially proud of two we recently won. Shippers and freight-forwarders chose Aloha Airlines as the nation’s No. 1 cargo carrier in recognition of the exceptional customer service they received. The well-deserved commendation for our hard-working cargo employees came from Air Cargo World magazine, the leading trade publication for the air cargo industry. The No. 1 rating was based on the magazine’s first Art Cargo Excellence Survey of shippers. The highest form of praise an airline can receive comes from the customers we are in business to serve.

This magazine,SPIRT OF ALOHA, has recently been awarded top honors. In March, the Hawai‘i Publishers Association recognized ,SPIRT OF ALOHAas the Best Visitor Publication in Hawai‘i. A regional panel of judges selected ,SPIRT OF ALOHA as the best in the major magazine category, citing both its coverage and design. SPIRT OF ALOHA also won awards in categories for excellence in overall magazine design and excellence in cover design. Congratulations to editor Tom Chapman and his talented staff of editors, art directors, writers and photographers. We hope you enjoy this issue. Feel free to take it along with you to share with family and friends.

Thank you for flying Aloha Airlines. Let me know how we’re doing.

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