BY JAMES WILKINSON
Americans will soon have a new route to Sydney from the Big Apple, following Hawaiian Airlines’ decision to launch direct, daily flights to New York from Honolulu.
The New York announcement comes less than a month before Hawaiian launches daily Honolulu-Sydney flights, up from four per week, on December 14.
Commencing on June 4, 2012, the new Hawaiian flight HA50, dubbed the ‘Hawaii 5-0’ service, will depart Honolulu at 3:05pm and arrive in New York at 06:55am the next day. It will connect seamlessly with the service from Sydney which lands in Honolulu at 10:55am.
The new flights will be served by brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft fitted with 18 First and 276 Economy Class seats and the airline’s President and CEO Mark Dunkerley says the launch is part of the airline’s strategic growth.
“New York is an important part of our growth strategy,” he said. “Hawaiian is the leading airline in Hawaii’s largest tourism market, the U.S. West Coast, and we are expanding in Hawaii’s third largest market, Asia.
“Adding service to the largest market in the Eastern U.S., Hawaii’s second largest tourism market, was a logical step,” he said.
Hawaiian’s new A330s feature on-demand entertainment in every seat, along with USB connectivity for personal media players.