Hawaiian pays out nearly $24M

Hawaiian Airlines announced Wednesday that its employees were awarded $23.8 million as part of the company’s profit sharing, its largest annual payment ever.

Airline officials said the profit- sharing payout comes after a “record-setting operational and financial year” that its more than 6,700 employees helped to achieve over 2017. Hawaiian earned $364 million on $2.7 billion in revenue in 2017, transported a company-record 11.5 million passengers and maintained its position as the most punctual U.S. carrier.

On top of the profit shares, employees received bonuses based on a range of business, consumer and community objectives. The company said the profit shares and bonus payments combined were equivalent to about 5 percent of employees’ 2017 wages.

“Our profit-sharing program recognizes that our team members across the company drive our success,” said Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Peter Ingram in a news release. “We’ve been expanding for several years now, but 2017 truly was a remarkable year.

The news comes shortly after Hawaiian Airlines announced a deal to purchase 10 of Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliners, which it expects to use for flights to Asia and long-haul service to the mainland.

Since Hawaiian Airlines started its profit-sharing program in 2009, the company has distributed a total of $81.5 million to its part- and full-time employees, officials said.

Ingram said in addition to continuing to grow its fleet and network over the past year, Hawaiian Airlines opened a 295,800-square-foot cargo and maintenance hangar and hired 954 additional employees.