Mark Dunkerley has always stressed that the state of Hawaii flies with Hawaiian Airlines.
And if the 82-year-old carrier is an ambassador for the islands, then Hawaii appears in good hands.
Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian, is one of the Star-Advertiser’s 10 Who Made a Difference in 2011. Dunkerley launched an aggressive expansion of the airline that began at the end of 2010, accelerated this year and will continue into 2012 and beyond which will bring hundreds of thousands of additional visitors to Hawaii. It also has meant hundreds of new jobs at a time when the state’s unemployment rate has risen to 6.5 percent.
THEY MADE A DIFFERENCE
Every day through year’s end, the Star-Advertiser will recognize people who changed Hawaii in 2011. Some are familiar names; others shunned the spotlight. But all made a difference. The winners were chosen by Star-Advertiser editors from recommendations submitted by staff members and readers. |
The decision to phase out the airline’s fleet of Boeing 767-300ER aircraft and bring in more fuel-efficient, longer-range and larger Airbus A330-200 planes has resulted not only in new routes, but will swell the size of Hawaiian’s work force to an all-time high of about 4,750 by the end of 2012. The airline added more than 400 employees in 2010 and 2011, and plans to hire an additional 500 next year.
"What’s important for Hawaii is Hawaiian carries our name, and they carry our hopes and dreams economically and culturally," said Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Even though high fuel costs have siphoned off a lot of Hawaiian’s earnings, the nation’s most punctual airline has forged ahead at a time of global economic uncertainty. Under Dunkerley’s guidance, Hawaiian added service to Tokyo in November 2010, and this year ramped up its expansion by initiating service to Seoul in January and Osaka, Japan, in July and announcing plans to begin flying next year to Fukuoka, Japan, in April and New York in June.
"As the destination carrier to Hawaii, an important element of our strategy is to match our capacity to those markets which will generate visitors to Hawaii," Dunkerley said. "We believe that our share of Hawaii’s visitors coming from abroad will likely grow in the years ahead, and we have made significant investments in this belief."
Regarding the New York route, Dunkerley said "it made sense" to grow a presence in Hawaii’s No. 2 visitor market, the eastern U.S.
Local aviation historian Peter Forman said Hawaiian’s expansion is "logical" given that it previously focused on the West Coast.
"The airline has had all this eastbound flying to the mainland, and now it is expanding to the West to Asia to make Honolulu a true hub," Forman said. "The dynamics of what he is doing makes a great deal of sense, and the addition of JFK (International Airport in New York) is intriguing because it really opens up Hawaiian to another market.
"I think the success that Mark has brought with his accomplishments at Hawaiian Airlines are going to have a significant impact on Hawaii’s economy and particularly Hawaiian Airlines, and bring many desirable jobs to the state."
