30 October 2006

767-200ER's at HNL


AA had a 767-200 (N329AA) RON and was parked at Gate 19 this morning. This seems to be the norm for AA when they bring in the 767-200's to HNL.



With the end of Daylight Savings Time, AC 's arrival from YVR is now back around noon instead of late afternoon.

Also, AA's first flight out of HNL, AA270 HNL-LAX, is now a 767-300ER instead of the normal 757. This flight is also leaving an hour later at 9:00am. This schedule will be in effect until December 13.

27 October 2006

Air Nippon's JA08AN


Yokoso JA08AN! Air Nippon's (EL/ANK) newest 737-781W (c/n 33877) arrived today from BFI enroute to Japan. Flight number unavailable. It's seen here taking a rest on the North Ramp Hard Stands. JA08AN leads off today's HNL RareBirds trifecta.

China Southern's B-5163


China Southern Airlines' B-5163 is the next 737-81B (c/n 30708) to stop off @ HNL from BFI, on its delivery flight. It arrived as CSN163, and will depart for MAJ tomorrow.

Aloha ‘Oe N539DS


Completing today's trifecta, is Island Air's lone Q400, that has left HNL for the mainland, and will be part WP's mainland venture. The Q400 spent the last few days being prepped for the ferry flight. It was flown by Southern Cross Aviation as SXA335 to CMA (Camarillo, CA), and departed before 0700L.

Here's a close up of "Island Beauty" and the The Star*Bulletin article.

Hopefully we will see this bird back @ HNL!

22 October 2006

Aloha Titles Removed On N250TR


N250TR, the 737-2K5A (c/n 22597) on lease from Pace Airlines, has had its "aloha" titles painted over, and is parked on the Elliott Street ramp. It appears that this aircraft is being prepared to return to Pace. It's sister-ship, N252TR, still has its "aloha" titles. With the arrival of the "new" 737-236s Aloha picked up, it signals the end of the ex-Hooters liveried 732s summer in Hawai‘i.

18 October 2006

LearJet Blown Tire Closes Reef Runway



A LearJet 31, N178NP, owned by Carolex Air LLC, (msn 178) blew a tire on its take-off roll down Runway 8R, closing it for almost 30 minutes. State Airports / Department of Transportation crews were dispatched to inspect, and clear the Reef Runway. N178NP continued on to MCE (Merced,CA), after the pilots reported the LJ31 may have blown a tire.

Two heavy jets, a UPS 767-34AERF (top, N316UP, c/n 27744) as UPS902 to ONT, and a China Airlines 747-409 (B-18275, c/n 24312) as CAL017 to NRT, were given the option to depart from Runway 8L, and took up the offer. Watching the CI 744 depart from 8L, reminded me of those pre-Reef Runway days. Some HNL RareBirds team memebers may be old enough to remember those days.

A Kalitta Air 747-100F (CKS718 to HKG), and a United 777-222ER (UAL833 to KIX) decided to wait out the clean up, and depart from 8R.

17 October 2006

Mesa Air's go! ruffles feathers

An article by Ben Mutzabaugh in USA Today's "Today In the Sky" has been written about Aloha Airlines recently filed lawsuit against Mesa Air Group (Nasdaq: MESA) and the go! Hawaii operation.

The article reveals that before Mesa started go!, two confidentiality agreements were signed saying Mesa "only would use confidential information to pursue an investment." with Aloha.

The article also gives more national coverage to the rank and file HERO website that says they are "trying to expose predatory tactics and misleading statements" from Mesa Air Group's CEO and other Mesa/go! executives.

Primaris 757-200

Charter airline, Primaris Airlines (FE/WCP), had a flight (WCP8741) that arrived from OAK today. The 752 was in the silver and blue livery, and look like it still had the Santa Barbara Airlines titles on it. It was parked on the north ramp hardstands next to the two CZ 73Gs. It returned to OAK as WCP8742, Wednesday morning.

Sorry, no photo available.

An Airliners.net photo link of N740PA by LP Photos

China Southern 73G Daily Double



Two China Southern Airlines 737-71Bs, B-5230 (CSN628) & B-5233 (CSN233), arrived at HNL from BFI on the first leg of their delivery flights. These are the two birds reported on the RareBirds thread by RobK. In a rare move, both 73Gs were parked on the north ramp, at Hardstands 3 & 4, this afternoon.

On Wednesday, the 18th, B-5230 (c/n 29371), top, departed for MAJ first around 0930L. B-5233 (c/n 35360) followed around 30 minutes later. Both flights departed from Runway 8L.

15 October 2006

Aloha Airlines' N837AL


Aloha Airlines (AQ) has added N837AL, a 737-236A (c/n 23169), to its inter-island fleet. Like sister-ship, N828AL, this 732A was previously with Aerolineas Argentina (as LV-ZTG) and British Airways (as G-BKYK).

Shaken ... Not Stirred


Most of the major Hawaiian Islands were shaken out of bed this morning at 0707L (no lie) to a 6.7 magnitude earthquake which was centered several miles off of the northwest coast of the Big Island. It was followed by a 6.0 aftershock less than 10 minutes later. Air-wise ... all Hawai‘i airports are open, though many lack full power. KOA and OGG report damage to buildings. All TSA searches, and check-ins, are being done manually.

In the photo above, passengers were forced to board (and deplane) via stairs, and baggage loaded (and unloaded) manually. This Delta 767-432ER was forced to take a different gate spot, at Gate 9, on the United terminal, from its normal spots on the west side of the Center Concourse. The America West 757-2G7 (the teal tail in the background), which normally parks on the west half of HNL, was re-assigned to the United side as well, at Gate 11.

Flights were delayed for several hours, and some airlines even canceled flights. The north ramp hardstand was used as a holding point for airliners that were awaiting their next segment. As soon as a flight landed and unloaded, it was towed to the hardstands. In the mid-afternoon, HNL was turned into a parking lot as arriving flights from the mainland were forced to wait on Taxiway A, abeam the north ramp, and the Diamond Head Concourse. Once full power was restored, delayed outbound passengers and flights began an exodus from all of the airports. Listening to my scanner later in the evening, HNL Tower was abuzz, as the airport worked to get operations back to normal.

The Honolulu Advertiser coverage.

14 October 2006

Air China's B-5175


B-5175 (c/n 35279) is Air China's newest 737-86N. It seen here, late this afternoon, on a rain-soaked ramp, with more rain looming.

11 October 2006

Mokulele Air Becomes go! Express

Airliners Gallery reports that go!'s alliance with Mokulele Air has transformed the latter to become an "express" carrier, signalling go's foray into the smaller Hawaiian airports served by Island Air (WP) and Pacific Wings (LW). This actually looks like an attempt by go! to take on LW, as the two owners have been carrying on a less-publicized battle about LW's amount counter space @ HNL's Commuter Terminal.

Ironically, HNL's Commuter Terminal signage announces Mokulele's presence, but I have yet to see one of their Piper Chieftains here. go! Express is starting service with Cessna Caravans, the same aircraft as Pacific Wings. Question is, will the livery for the Caravans be a go!-based one, or have the Mokulele livery as the Chieftains had (they're gone). The Mokulele Air website has no mention of its partnership with go!. Jonathan Ornstein, himself, told me (on go!'s media day) that Mesa and Mokulele were forging an alliance, for passengers and maintenance.

Looks like go! is attacking both the main inter-island carriers, as well as the little guys.

Honolulu Star*Bulletin articles pertaining to the go! / Mokulele partnership, along with WP and LW reactions: Sept 27, 06, Sept 15, 06, and Sept 14, 06.

As the fan blades spin ...

09 October 2006

REX Saab 340s


Airliners Gallery is reporting that REX (Regional Express Airlines) of Sydney, Australia will be leasing a bunch of ex-American Eagle Saab 340 turboprops, with deliveries beginning in January 2007. If it was like before, those SF340s will be stopping off @ HNL on their way Down Under.

The photo above was taken in February 2004.

07 October 2006

New Aloha Cargo Livery!

Well, it's not really a new livery since it is exactly the same, but Aloha has added the word "cargo" in yellow right after their name. N816AL is the first to sport this and you can see a picture of it below:


02 October 2006

UA 747-400 SFO-HNL

Today, a United 747-400 flew in from SFO as UA73. Looking previous days, they have been using the 747-400 for this flight for the past 6 days! Too bad I've been stuck inside and haven't been able to get pictures of this.

01 October 2006

Air New Zealand Links' C-FHPZ


Air New Zealand Link has their newest Dash8-311, C-FHPZ (msn 629), on their way from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It stopped here @ HNL after arriving from CCR (Buchanan Field, CA). C-FHPZ's next stop tomorrow, will be PPG (Pago Pago, American Samoa).

If you look under the starboard wing, you'll notice the auxiliary fuel line that goes from a cabin window (where a ferry tank is placed in the cabin), to the main fuel tanks in the wings. This feature is common to all Dash8 variants that are on over-ocean ferry flights.

Sorry ... this was the best shot I could get, as there were a couple of corporate jets screening me out.