Hawaiian Says Aloha to CEO Mark Dunkerley

Hawaiian says Aloha to CEO Mark Dunkerley whom announced his retirement last week.  Dunkerley has been critical to Hawaiian’s renaissance and is responsible for shaping the Airline into what it is today.

Hawaiian’s Revival

CEO Mark Dunkerley has been with Hawaiian Airlines since 2002 and became its CEO in 2005.  That same year, Hawaiian made its re-emergence from bankruptcy and, under Dunkerley’s leadership, saw its return to profitability, all while growing the Airline.  And that growth has been quite significant.  If we look back to twelve years ago, Hawaiian primarily served the inter-island market and the U.S. West Coast.  Even then, direct flights to Kahului, Maui, and cities like Oakland didn’t exist.

However, since then, Hawaiian has renewed its long-haul fleet with Airbus A330-200’s, added more Boeing 717-200’s, accepts its first Airbus A321neo, and began a commuter subsidiary using ATR 42-500s.  And when the fleet renewal is complete, the Airline will have 30 widebody aircraft, 18 medium-haul narrowbody aircraft, and 20 short-haul narrowbody aircraft. That’s a significant growth from a fleet of just 16 long-haul and seven inter-island aircraft.

Over the years, thanks to Hawaiian’s fleet renewal, the Airline also greatly expanded its route network.  And though Hawaiian initiated a number of routes that eventually didn’t work, the Airline has added and maintained the following routes under Dunkerley’s tenure:

• Tokyo-Narita, Japan
• Tokyo-Haneda, Japan
• Sapporo, Japan
• Beijing, China
• Seoul, South Korea
• Sydney, Australia
• Brisbane, Australia
• Aukland, New Zealand
• JFK, New York

Hawaiian has even begun linking more of the Hawaiian Islands to each other via direct flights, such as the new Kona to Lihue flight.  That flight, at about an hour, is the longest inter-island route ever served in Hawaii.

Dunkerley’s Departure

It’s easy to see how instrumental Dunkerly has been to Hawaiian’s growth over the past twelve years.  However, there’s always going to be a day when a company’s top executive decides to depart.  And for Dunkerley, that date is March 1, 2018.  Succeeding Dunkerley is Peter Ingram who is currently serving as the Airline’s Chief Commerical Officer.  Ingram joined Hawaiian back in 2005 as the Airline’s Chief Financial Officer and has been Dunkerley’s right-hand man ever since.  He is an excellent choice to succeed Hawaiian’s long-time CEO and will likely keep Hawaiian on a steady, constant path.

Hawaiian Says Aloha to CEO Mark Dunkerley, Final Thoughts

Dunkerley has played a critical role in not only rescuing Hawaiian but turning it into a thriving airline.  So it’s easy to see why some may have been apprehensive when departure rumors started swirling a number of years ago.  But Peter Ingram is a good, safe bet.  I doubt we’ll see any significant changes, at least in the short term, but Ingram does have to deal with substantial changes in the coming to the Airline’s competitive landscape.  With Southwest joining international low-cost carriers Scoot and AirAsia X, plus the addition of All Nippon Airway’s A380 between Toyko and Honolulu, Hawaiian is flying into an era of unprecedented competition.  For the more immediate future, though, I’ll be interested to see how Hawaiian deals with the ambiguous future of the Airbus A330neo-800.  I would, after all, still like to see Hawaiian flip its order over to Boeing 787 instead ?.