Hawaiian Airlines expects to begin service between Honolulu and Manila in the Philippines in March 2008, pending U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) approval.

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and CEO, commented, “This is exciting news for travelers, our community and our company. We see tremendous opportunity to increase travel on this route in light of the deep historical and cultural ties Hawaii has to the Philippines, Manila’s large population of over 10 million people, its growing international business sector and substantial middle class with the inclination and means to travel.”

“Hawaiian’s flights will increase business, cultural and educational opportunities for Hawaii, provide additional international travel options and help bring our communities even closer together,” said Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle.

Hawaiian plans to start service with four or more flights per week, which will more than double current capacity on the nonstop route and enable significant growth in traffic. Hawaiian’s research shows that approximately 170,000 people traveled between Manila and Hawaii during the past year.

Hawaiian will operate the new route using its wide-body, twin-aisle Boeing 767-300ER aircraft that seat up to 264 passengers. Earlier this year, Hawaiian added four B767 aircraft to its transpacific fleet.

Dunkerley added, “Hawaiian has grown in 2007 faster than any other airline in the U.S. We serve more mainland destinations on a nonstop basis than any other airline, and we’re thrilled to be expanding our international operations into Asia with new nonstop service to Manila.”

Hawaiian is ranked as America’s #1 airline in the 2007 Airline Quality Ratings, which was announced in April. This comprehensive industry-wide study evaluated the overall performance of the nation’s 18 largest carriers using a weighted average of 15 elements in four major areas important to consumers when judging quality in airline services.

In addition, earlier this month, readers of Travel + Leisure magazine rated Hawaiian as the nation’s top airline serving Hawaii for the 9th consecutive year.

Hawaiian has also recorded the best overall service performance as measured by DOT in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and been the nation’s #1 on-time airline for 41 of the past 44 months.
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