Hawaiian Airlines has just entered its 90th year of flying! While extending a huge congratulations to the tropical carrier, we wanted to reflect on what it would have been like flying with them 9 decades ago.
The team at Hawaiian Airlines said they had been imagining it themselves: being at John Rodgers Airport on November 11, 1929, when the first scheduled Inter–Island Airways Sikorsky S–38 took off for Maui and then Hilo.
It was the start of commercial aviation in Hawaii. What a milestone.
Inter-Island Airways which started it all was incorporated on January 30, 1929.
On November 8, 1929, 51 Army and Navy airplanes flew in formation over Honolulu in celebration of Aviation Day, and the inauguration of the new Inter-Island Airways air service which was to commence on November 11, 1929.
Any guesses what fares were for the various routes at the beginning of operations? Let’s see how close you were.
A flight from Honolulu to Molokai would set you back $17.50, while a flight Honolulu to Maui or Kauai was $20.00 and trip from Honolulu to Hilo was a little pricier at $32.00.
Each passenger was allowed 20 pounds of baggage. If you went over it was 25 cents per extra pound. Imagine if that was still the case today! We’d all be shopping until we dropped and not worrying one bit about going over the limit on our luggage.
During the first year of operations, Inter-Island flew a total of 275,574 miles and carried 10, 355 passengers; and 18,680 pounds of express.
After celebrating their 89th birthday on November 11, Hawaiian Airlines is planning a series of events throughout the year to not only celebrate their incredible longevity but to “herald the deep connection to the Hawaiian Islands that Hawaii’s airline, still uniquely maintains today”.
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