The Hawaii Express

Founded	1982
Commenced operations	August 20, 1982
Ceased operations	December 20, 1983
Operating bases	Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Fleet size	See Fleet below
Destinations	See Destinations below
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.

The Hawaii Express (IATA: LP, ICAO: HEA) was a scheduled passenger airline that operated flights between Los Angeles, California (LAX) and Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL). It was nicknamed "The Big Pineapple" and started service with one Boeing 747-100 aircraft, featuring a unique and detailed paint job with a mango-colored tail and a rainbow-colored stripe down the side.

History

Founded by Michael Hartley, who would later go on to found Air Hawaii and CheapTickets, the airline began flights on August 20, 1982. The vice-president of Operations was William Traver. Since the airline wanted to hire personnel with airline experience, the employment ad which ran in the airlines section of Los Angeles Times newspaper classified ads in the spring of 1982 listed previous 747 qualification as a requirement. The airline's original crew members included fifteen pilots, most of whom were from the recently bankrupted Braniff Airlines based in Dallas, Texas, while the original fifty flight attendants were furloughed from various major airlines in the United States. Four of those fifty flight attendants served as permanent pursers/First Flight Attendants. All crew members were based at Los Angeles International Airport with maintenance and gate facilities provided by TWA.

Hawaii Express acquired two McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 aircraft in May 1983 to replace the 747, although all three aircraft were operated simultaneously for a while. The Hawaii Express suspended flights on December 20 of that year and filed for bankruptcy the following day.

Destinations

According to The Hawaii Express August 1983 timetable, the airline was operating three daily round trip flights between the following cities:^[1]

Los Angeles - Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) - Home base for the airline
Honolulu - Honolulu International Airport (HNL)

Fleet

The airline operated the following wide body jetliner types during its existence:^[2]

Boeing 747-143 (N355AS)
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 (N904WA & N905WA)

References

Norwood, Tom W. (1996). Deregulation Knockouts, Round One. Sandpoint, Idaho: Airways International. p. 73. ISBN 0965399303. OCLC 37263082.
Wynbrandt, James (2004). "Chapter 1: The Journey Begins". Flying High. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-65544-9. OCLC 54461996.