Hawaiian Air to hire 300 in expansion

Hawaiian Airlines, one of the state’s largest private employers with a workforce of about 6,500, is increasing its ranks as part of a major expansion.

The state’s largest airline said Friday it is recruiting nearly 300 more employees in preparation for the arrival of a new fleet of 18 narrow-body Airbus A321neo aircraft. Hawaiian is seeking more than 200 flight attendants, approximately 50 pilots and about 40 mechanics, according to company spokesman Alex Da Silva.

“It’s one of our largest hiring efforts in recent years,” Da Silva said. “To put it into context, today we employ just under 2,000 flight attendants, more than 700 pilots and 360 mechanics. This is not all tied to the A321neo, since we will soon welcome our 24th wide-body Airbus A330.”

The first 189-seat A321neos are expected to arrive by the end of this year and be placed into service in early 2018. Hawaiian recently announced that the new planes will be used on three new nonstop daily routes: Portland-­Maui, Oakland-Kauai and Los Angeles-Kona. The A321neos include 16 leather recliners in the Premium Cabin, 45 Extra Comfort seats and 128 Economy seats.

“We have been hiring staff for some time as we prepare to grow our operations with the A321neo fleet,” Da Silva said. “We have also made significant investments such as purchasing a new multimillion-dollar A321neo training simulator (for Hawaiian’s corporate headquarters training facility), and we are nearing completion of the work at our new maintenance hangar at the airport.”

Hawaiian’s hiring push comes at a time when the state’s unemployment rate is at a 10-year low of 2.6 percent and employers are scrambling to fill available positions. Hawaii’s jobless rate in August ranked as the third lowest in the nation behind only North Dakota (2.3 percent) and Colorado (2.4 percent).

“Three hundred (new jobs) is a big number for one employer,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “In the state, 98 percent of the companies are small businesses. They are 100 employees or less. If Hawaiian Airlines is hiring 300 additional employees, that is bigger than a particular small business. So it’s good for the state. It’s good for the economy.”

Hawaii’s tourism industry has been booming with five consecutive years of record arrivals and spending. It is on track to make it six in a row with arrivals expected to top 9.2 million and spending to reach $16.78 billion, according to DBEDT.

The number of seats to Hawaii is expected to increase 1.7 percent this year to 12.2 million, according to airlines’ published schedules as of June 20, Tian said.

“That’s considered to be very healthy,” he said. “Although it’s an increase of only 1.7 percent, the airlines have increased their occupancy with more people per flight. That’s why we see more visitors.”

Hawaiian reported last week that in August it filled 86.2 percent of its flights, which was 1.8 percentage points better than the year-earlier period.

Hawaiian, which has been phasing out its wide-body Boeing 767 aircraft, has been in the midst of a fleet transition with its final A330 aircraft scheduled to arrive in the middle of next month followed by the rollout of the A321neos.

“We are excited to continue to create jobs while introducing a new fleet, more destinations and a growing flight network to our guests,” Da Silva said.

The company will hold interviews this fall and early 2018 for flight attendant candidates who would begin training in January, February and April. Hawaiian, which has been growing internationally, also is seeking bilingual flight attendant candidates who are proficient in Japanese, Korean, Mandarin or Cantonese. Mechanics will be interviewed in mid-November and pilots interviewed in early December through January. The application deadlines vary for the different groups.