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Spirit
of Aloha | Message
of Aloha | May /August 2007
Message
of Aloha
By: David A. Banmiller
President and Chief Executive Officer
Our Whale of a Time
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PHOTO: BRETT UPRICHARD
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Aloha and Welcome Aboard! Our Aloha ‘ohana is leaping with excitement over some recent developments that have elevated the energy level here at Aloha Airlines to new heights. First, Aloha recently embarked on a new relationship that promises to expand our links with one of the largest airlines in the world, our code-share partner, United Airlines.
The new agreement with United is a historic pact between two well-respected airline brands that have been serving Hawai‘i for more than 60 years. We began service in July 1946 as a charter carrier that later became the scheduled passenger and cargo company called Aloha Airlines. United, which traces its heritage back to 1926, has been serving Hawai‘i since May 1947, when its first service from San Francisco to Honolulu was launched with the Boeing Stratocruiser.
Aloha and United have been code-share partners since 1993, putting our airlines’ two-letter codes on some of each other’s flights, so that, for example, United can offer its customers through-flights from its gateway cities to Neighbor Islands, although, in fact, the interisland flights are operated by Aloha Airlines. In the future, we will be doing additional code-sharing, so that more United passengers will be flying on us, and Aloha customers can be booked more easily on United’s nonstops to the Mainland and Japan.
We have also agreed to explore other ways for United to help Aloha get greater exposure in key markets, and ways our Aloha team can help United bring more passengers to Hawai‘i. It’s a win-win for the two airlines and our thousands of customers.
At Aloha, we’ve also been encouraged by our continued success in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Traffic Consumer Report, which tracks the month-by-month performance of 20 U.S. airlines. Aloha has consistently topped the national survey, or finished close to the top, in such key categories as on-time arrivals, baggage delivery and fewest complaints.
With all of that going for us, it was still hard to top the excitement created when the renowned artist Wyland showed up in our Maintenance Hangar with paintbrush in hand. We invited the world-famous painter of Whaling Wall murals to paint one of our Boeing 737-700 aircraft with images of endangered Hawai‘i marine animals. Wyland took to the project like a fish to water. The results of our Wyland “Flying Whale” project are remarkable: turn to page 152 in the Welcome Aboard section of this magazine to see the finished product, and then watch the video we are showing on trans-Pacific flights.
By the way, there’s a serious component to the fun we had with Wyland. We invite you to learn more about the plight of Hawai‘i’s marine environment and find out what you can do to help. You might begin by visiting the Web pages of the nonprofit Wyland Foundation at www.Wylandfoundation.org
One person can make a difference—and it could be you.
Enjoy your flight and let me know how we’re doing.
 
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