Hawaiian Airlines

Early years (1929–1984)

Inter-Island Airways (Hawaiian: Hui Mokulele Piliʻāina), the forerunner of the airline which is now known as Hawaiian Airlines, was incorporated on January 30, 1929. Inter-Island Airways, a subsidiary of Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, began operations on October 6, 1929, with a Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker, providing short sightseeing flights over Oʻahu. Scheduled service began a month later on November 11 using Sikorsky S-38s with a flight from Honolulu to Hilo, via intermediary stops on Molokaʻi and Maui.

On October 1, 1941, the company's name was changed to Hawaiian Airlines when the company phased out the older Sikorsky S-38 and Sikorsky S-43 flying boats. The first Douglas DC-3s were added to the fleet in August 1941, some examples remaining in operation until their final retirement in November 1968.

Modern pressurized equipment was introduced in 1952 in the form of the Convair 340. Further Convair 440s were added from 1959 to 1960, most of the Convairs being converted to turbine propeller power from 1965 to 1967. The last were sold in 1974.

Hawaiian Airlines started to offer jet service in 1966 with the acquisition of Douglas DC-9-10 aircraft, which cut travel times in half on most of its routes.

From 1973 onwards, the airline's logo featured the face of Miss Hawaii 1964, Leina'ala Drummond, who had been a flight attendant with the airline.

Hawaiian Air Cargo

From 1976 to 1977 and again from 1978 to 1980, Hawaiian had a mainland air cargo division called Hawaiian Air Cargo based in Macon, Georgia, focused on the United States Air Force Logair domestic cargo program. Hawaiian used Lockheed L-188 Electra freighter aircraft. The airline won an Air Force contract for 1976–1977, but then lost the lease of the aircraft it was using and was unable to bid for 1977–1978. In 1978, Hawaiian tried once more with a new batch of aircraft. Hawaiian Air Cargo operated again 1978–1980, when Hawaiian sold the operation to Zantop International Airlines.

Growth outside Hawaii (1984–1994)

Hawaiian Airlines began to expand its footprint throughout the 1980s as the result of intense competition on inter-island routes created by the entrance of Mid Pacific Air into the market. In 1985, the company began its first foray outside the inter-island market through charter services to the South Pacific and then throughout the rest of the Pacific using Douglas DC-8 aircraft. Despite the early successes of this new business, Hawaiian was forced to curtail its charter services when the Federal Government banned all DC-8 and B707 aircraft without hush kits from operating within the US. Hawaiian did, however, manage to gain a short exemption for its South Pacific services.

Soon after, in early 1985, the company received the first two of its leased Lockheed L-1011 TriStars. One aircraft was used to launch Hawaiian's first scheduled operation out of Hawaiʻi: daily Honolulu-Los Angeles services. This new service put Hawaiian in direct competition with the major US air carriers for the first time in its history. Throughout 1985 and 1986, Hawaiian Airlines added additional L-1011s to its fleet and used them to open up services to other West Coast gateway cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, and Anchorage, which placed Hawaiian in further competition against the major US airlines.

Hawaiian Airlines also entered the new international markets of Australia and New Zealand in 1986 with one-stop services through Pago Pago International Airport. Hawaiian also aggressively grew its international charter business and pursued military transport contracts. This led to a large growth in the company's revenues and caused its inter-island service's share of revenues to shrink to just about a third of the company's total.

During the 1980s, Hawaiian also embarked on the development and construction of Kapalua Airport on the west side of Maui. Opened in 1987, the airport was designed with a 3,000-foot runway (910 m), which constrained its ability to handle large aircraft. As a result, when the airport first opened, Hawaiian Airlines was the only inter-island carrier with aircraft capable of serving the airport. With its de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops, Hawaiian had a distinct competitive advantage in the Maui market.

Heading into the 1990s, Hawaiian Airlines faced financial difficulties, racking up millions of dollars in losses throughout the previous three years. Due to the airline's increasingly unprofitable operations, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 1993. During this time, the company reduced many of its costs: reorganizing its debt, wrestling concessions from employees, cutting overcapacity, and streamlining its fleet by disposing of many of the planes it had added to its fleet just a few years earlier.

As part of Hawaiian's restructuring, it sold Kapalua Airport to the State of Hawaii in 1993. Hawaiian soon after discontinued service to the airport as it retired its Dash 7 fleet.