Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) has extended the dry-leases of five B717-200s through 2025 and does not plan to retire the type until, possibly, "the latter part of the decade", President and Chief Executive Peter Ingram said during a 4Q19 earnings call.
"We're often asked about our plans for B717 replacement and we usually answer that there is no plane flying today that is better suited for the unique missions we fly in the Neighbor Island network than the B717 based on its size, economics and durability. By extending our B717 leases to the middle of the decade, we are indicating that we are not planning to replace this fleet in the next five years," he said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the carrier currently operates twenty B717-200s, including 15 owned units and five dry-leased from BCC Equipment Leasing. The fleet is 18.1 years old, on average. Hawaiian exclusively uses the 128-seaters (which feature eight business class seats) to operate high-frequency shuttle flights between islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, connecting Honolulu, Kahului, Kona, Lihue, and Hilo, according to the ch-aviation schedules module.
"We've agreed to extend the power-by-the-hour agreement related to this fleet's engines and are planning to have a B717 flight simulator moved to Honolulu to allow us to do all of our simulator training at our home base. We'll continue to monitor options for the latter part of the decade, but for now, we see no need to deploy our capital to replace these aircraft," Ingram added.
Hawaiian is one of only four operators of the B717s in the world; Delta Air Lines operates 88 such aircraft, Cobham Aviation Services Australia - Airline Services 20, and Volotea 14.
Besides the twenty B717s, Hawaiian Airlines also operates seventeen A321-200neo and twenty-four A330-200s.
"2020 will bring to a close our current A321neo expansion as we take delivery of our eighteenth A321neo in March and we will ramp up our preparations for our next phase of growth with the B787," Ingram added.
Hawaiian Airlines has five B787-9s on firm order from Boeing and will take another five from lessors. It has a further ten options for the type. The first B787-9 is due for delivery to Hawaiian during the first quarter of 2021.
