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Hawaiian Airlines

Did Hawaiian Air's CEO just mention the Airbus A380?

Ben Mutzabaugh
USA TODAY
An Airbus A380 comes in to land after a flying display at the Farnborough International Airshow in England on July 12, 2012.

Could Hawaiian Airlines become the first U.S. carrier to fly Airbus’ A380 superjumbo jet?

It may be unlikely, but there’s sure to be at least some speculation after Hawaiian Air CEO Mark Dunkerley broached the subject at an event in London this week.

The Wall Street Journal says Hawaiian “has made some initial inquiries” about the A380, though the newspaper qualified that by adding those “discussions were mainly for informational purposes.” That's all according to the Journal’s report on comments made by Dunkerely at an Aviation Club event Wednesday in London.

World's largest passenger plane gets more U.S. routes

Bloomberg News also picked up on the thread after talking to Dunkerely on the sidelines of the same event. Bloomberg writes Hawaiian “is looking seriously at whether the Airbus A380 might have a role to play within its network, especially on routes such as those from Honolulu to Los Angeles, Tokyo and Las Vegas, which it serves with smaller wide-body planes six, three and two times daily respectively.”

Fueling speculation on the subject is the possibility that A380s may soon be available to purchase inexpensively. That could come either from Airbus -- as it looks to drum up sales of its slow-selling superjumbo -- or via the used aircraft market, which is expected to see some A380s being returned by Singapore and, possibly, Malaysian Airlines.

Mark Lapidus, CEO of plane-leasing firm Amedeo, told Bloomberg the A380 could make sense for routes to Honolulu – a market that’s isolated geographically but relies on a high volume of tourist traffic.

“Hawaii would be a good fit for either a new or used A380,” Lapidus said to Bloomberg. “The sector distances are at least eight hours in every direction.”

But before anyone starts imagining A380s in a Hawaiian Airlines paint scheme, Dunkerely told Bloomberg he still needs to be convinced that flying A380s would be good for the airline’s bottom line.

In the meantime, Dunkerely did say Hawaiian is eyeing the possibility of flights to London and other European destinations once it begins receiving its next-generation Airbus A330s -- though that's not until the end of the decade.

Emirates shows off its Airbus A380 superjumbo at Washington Dulles

The current A330 widebodies in Hawaiian’s fleet don’t have the range to make it to London or other destinations in Europe. But that could change with Airbus’ next version of the A330, the A330neo (new-engine option). It’s possible that version of the A330 could be extended enough to allow Hawaiian to fly flights to Europe or further into Asia, though Dunkerely cautioned to the Journal that decisions on such routes were not imminent.

Stay tuned ...

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IN PICTURES: Qantas debuts giant Airbus A380 on Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth flights

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