Hawaiian Airlines prides itself as the airline of the islands. And while the Airline currently carries a number of local products, they’ll soon have more. Why? Because Hawaiian Airlines partners with Mana Up, a business accelerator.
I like supporting local companies. And I do so, not only because it supports our local economy, but because these companies often produce unique products. This was readily evident in my Island Miler Holiday Gift Guide, too. So, while I’m not the biggest fan of Hawaiian Airlines, I do like the fact that they heavily feature local companies onboard their aircraft. And soon the Airline will feature even more unique local businesses through a new partnership announced a week ago.
Hawaiian Airlines Partners with Mana Up
That partnership is with a local business incubator known as Mana Up. The goal of Mana Up is to “build Hawai’i’s next 100 product companies earning $1 million or more in annual revenue.” And it will do so via a 12-week accelerator program that will enable Hawaii product entrepreneurs to scale their business. This scaling is, according to Mana Up and Hawaiian, one of the primary issues facing local entrepreneurs today. Many simply cannot meet the demands of doing business with a large customer such as Hawaiian. However, with this program, participants should be able to achieve these production demands and overall growth. And for its part, Hawaiian will purchase and feature many of these local products onboard their flights.
What sort of products we’re talking about is not known at this time, though. Mana Up’s first round will begin in January 2018, so perhaps then we’ll get to learn who these companies are and what they want to do. And while some products may make it into Hawaiian’s catering menus (most likely for first class like Hawaiian Pie Co.), I’m sure the majority of the products will be available for purchase in-flight via the Pau Hana Cart. Further, nearly everything sold aboard Hawaiian flights are food and beverage items, so I foresee this continuing to be a trend going forward as well.
Hawaiian Airlines Partners with Mana Up, Final Thoughts
Hawaiian may not be my favorite airline, but I certainly appreciate that they try to support local companies. It helps with their slogan “Hawaii starts here” too. And, as Hawaiian brings on more local products in the not-too-distant future, the Airline will further differentiate itself. I only wish that their corporate chef would be someone other than Chai Chaowasaree. Someone along the lines of Alaska Air’s hometown celebrity chef Tom Douglas would be nice. But that doesn’t really matter, as I don’t fly first on Hawaiian, and their economy meal is now a sad, little sandwich. Look out for a review on that soon, by the way!