Last updated on April 14th, 2024 at 12:37 am
Hawaii’s hometown airline does quite a bit of maintenance here in Honolulu. However, for heavy checks, they send their aircraft away. And for the Airbuses, Hawaiian Airlines contracts with SIAEC.
For as long as I can remember, Hawaiian has always sent its aircraft away for base maintenance, which is often more intrusive work such as heavy checks. I’m not too sure who does the Boeing 717s right now, but they head to the Lower 48 for this. The Boeing 767s went to Delta TechOps for their base maintenance. But with their Airbus fleet, Hawaiian sends their birds out of the country for the heavy stuff.
Hawaiian Airlines Contracts With SIAEC
The other week, news broke that Hawaiian Airlines contracts with SIAEC for its Airbus A321neo fleet. The new contract runs through 2027s and joins the A330-200 fleet. If you’re like me, you probably assumed the “SIA” in SIAEC stands for Singapore Airlines, and you’d be right! SIAEC stands for SIA Engineering Company, which is a subsidiary of its namesake airline. However, this doesn’t mean that Hawaiian’s birds are flying to Singapore for their base maintenance.
You see, SIAEC has two base maintenance facilities – one in Singapore and the other in the Philippines. Hawaiian’s contract will have their jets head to the Clark, Philippines location for their maintenance. Clark is a special economic zone in Luzon, which is to the north of Manila. This particular facility is actually a joint venture between the Singapore Airlines Group and Cebu Air, which is an all-Airbus airline.
Final Thoughts
Since Hawaiian Airlines contracts with SIAEC’s Philippines division, that means they rely on the island nation for two major facets of their operation – heavy maintenance and customer service (call center). It’s worth noting that their accounting is also offshored, though in India rather than the Philippines. If you’re wondering, Hawaiian currently operates a fleet of 24 Airbus A330-200s and 18 A321neos, though only 16 of them are operational. Two of Hawaiian’s neos have been sidelined due to, you guessed it, continued issues with their Pratt & Whitney PW110G engines.