Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian Airlines president and chief executive, said he’s not sure how the global publicity from this week’s stowaway story will affect the airline.

On Sunday a 15-year-old boy hid in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 and survived a five-hour flight from San Jose, Calif., to Kahu­lui.

"It’s certainly true that we were headlines all over the world for a brief period," Dunkerley said in a telephone interview. "We’ll have to see what changes that brings.

"I’m not a sufficient enough expert in this sort of area to offer an informed judgment. I’ll leave that to the PR professionals rather than myself."

Dunkerley said when Hawaiian was notified about the stowaway, the airline contacted the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration and then went about its business.

"This is largely an extraordinary story about a young boy who stowed away on one of our flights," Dunkerley said. "I think we’re almost a bystander in this story."

Dunkerley, who also is a recreational pilot, said he’s never been involved with a stowaway situation in his nearly three decades in the aviation industry.

"But it’s not unknown in the industry," he added.

Dunkerley declined to speculate how the boy positioned himself in the wheel well.

"One wheel well is much like another wheel well," he said. "It’s a confined aircraft space used very efficiently. Beyond that I wouldn’t speculate how he managed to seat himself in there and survive the trip."