Comments on: Aloha Means Hello . . . and Goodbye?

By: The Cranky Flier » Aloha ‘Oe, Aloha Airlines

The Cranky Flier » Aloha ‘Oe, Aloha Airlines — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:50:19 +0000

[...] may remember that I said last week that I probably wouldn’t book a flight on Aloha for travel more than a couple weeks out. It looks like the airline won’t even make it that long. Aloha has announced that, not [...]

By: travel hag

travel hag — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:58:13 +0000

No disruption expected to US flights, which were handled above and below wing by Aloha. Since this was in the air, temporary senior employees dispatched over the weekend to all 4 US destination cities in the islands. Great planning, I must say!

By: Sheila

Sheila — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:07:38 +0000

FYI – Aloha’s shutting down all operations in 2 days. Mainland flights end tonight. I didn’t think operations would cease so quickly. The Star Bulletin has an article on the shut down.

By: Yo

Yo — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:01:16 +0000

Yeah, 708 left me stranded in OAK many times due to MX. The plane always kicked out a few extra noises that would raise a scare or two.

As for Aloha’s -200 ETOPS, they flew it to Majuro, Kwajelein, Midway, and I believe they did some trips to Johnston Atoll (which is now closed and bulldozed and is an off limits nature preserve). I think they did a few Christmas Island (Kiribati) trips with it as well.

By: CF

CF — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:54:23 +0000

Yo - Oh yes, of course I remember 708. I used to love that plane. In fact, I did a roundtrip from PHX to TUS one day just to get on her before she went away. I remember that toward the end, 708 was primarily going back and forth between PHX and LAX on the out-of-bank flights, including the old late night post-11p departure from PHX. Here she is just before the end, and here's a picture of her in better days. Getting on a 737-100 wasn't an easy task, but I managed to get on a couple of CO birds as well. One I flew from DCA to EWR, and another was on CALite from BWI-GSO-ATL. Yikes, what a horrible route.

By: Yo

Yo — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:45:29 +0000

Remember America West’s 737-100?

Old 708, always an adventure to fly on, when it actually flew.

Beer cans now though.

By: CF

CF — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:54:33 +0000

Alex C – Not sure about the breakdown, but if I have more time I can try to sift through government data. (You can do it too at bts.gov.) My guess is that the mainland flying is more profitable. Whether that means it’s actually profitable or not, I’m not sure. They do have a little fare protection since they fly to airports that aren’t popular Hawai’i departure points – like Orange County.

I don’t think the 732 is the real cause of their demise. The planes work well for their mission, and they’re cheap to own. The biggest problem is on the revenue side. When go! entered, the fares just tanked and that’s when it got to the point where any aircraft would lose money.

By: Alex C

Alex C — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:55:30 +0000

Cranky, I wonder if you have any thoughts on the breakdown of profitability between the inter-island vs. continental US operations? Operating 732s on short hops with low yields does seem like a sure-fire way to lose one’s shirt, but are the routes to California very profitable against all the competition?

I guess the reason AQ survived up to this point was that the 732s were cheaper to keep in operation than to replace, but as you say with fuel costing what it does, that dynamic clearly changed.

By: CF

CF — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:52:53 +0000

Wonko – I do believe that the life jackets and ceiling mounted rafts are just for any extended overwater flying. IIRC, JetBlue has equipped their fleet with them so they can fly out over the water from the Northeast down to Florida. Other airline use it to cut across the Gulf of Mexico. Of course, ETOPS operations would require that as well!

By: Wonko Beeblebrox

Wonko Beeblebrox — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:11:45 +0000

ETOPS also means enhanced/more stringent mechanical requirements on that plane, I think. IE: if you normally have one system and a backup, you might need yet another backup for an ETOPS plane; since you would not be able to run just on the backup — ie: with the primary down. I think.

I believe ETOPS also requires full up life jackets (not “use your seat cushion bottom for flotation”) at every seat and those deployable ceiling mounted life rafts installed on board. That might be EOW (Extended OverWater) ops, though. Cranky, do you know?