Where's N748AL ?

We came across this 737-76N(W) shot while looking for something else on an alternate drive. Anyone know where the Wyland plane (c/n 30050)  is now ? 

Another 732C In Aloha Air Cargo's New Livery

The next Aloha Air Cargo painted in the new livery is N841AL, a 737-2X6. This aircraft was aquired by the former Aloha Airlines from Alaska Airlines back in 2007, as reported on this blog in June 2007. The aircraft started service in 1984 with MarkAir and then went to Alaska in 1994.

http://hnlrarebirds.blogspot.com/2007/06/alohas-n841al.html

Picture to follow

Aloha Name Sale Halted ... For Now

A federal bankruptcy court judge postponed the sale of the Aloha Airlines name and intellectual property to the Mesa Air Group ...

Honolulu Advertiser coverage ...

"Down The Rabbit Hole"

I am posting excerpts of a letter / commentary that was sent to me regarding the Mesa / Yucaipa / Aloha debacle. I was given permission by the author to print all (or part) of this letter.
(Again ... the comments expressed below belong to the person writing the commentary, and may not reflect the HNL RareBirds team)

"Why is it that a simple line pilot who barely graduated from high school could read Ornstein's game perfectly and (if not for Mark Dunkerly) became the only person who got to stand the line against the sociopath and prevail. I showed AQ management how easy it was to beat the little liar down. I had basically no resources except the other pilots who also saw down the rabbit hole with me and generously helped support my legal fees. (You also who gave, I did not forget, thank you). Whatever insight I had into the way this would play out came and went, in the end I was betrayed just like all my other fellow employees.

"In early March 2008, those of us who could see past the wizard's curtain were all celebrating because many of us believed that Ornstein had finally run his course. The arrival of the "Casper" (all white paint) CRJ's was a clear indication that JO had psychologically given up on the go! brand. The fancy go! paint jobs on the 4 bravo romeo "blue ridge" (Former FlyI planes) were headed back to the lessors because of high payments and low revenue.

"In late March when Banmiller announced we were shutting down, the casper planes quickly became additions instead of replacements. The timing was suspicious (maybe the rabbit hole goes down further than I thought) but I have to believe our demise was as much of a surprise to JO as it was to the rest of us.

"On March 31st 2008, Mesa was literally days away from shutting down go! themselves when we shut down Aloha instead. Hawaii was handed to Mesa on a silver platter.

"Now, fast forward six months... Mesa did not bring out CRJ 900's to Hawaii as promised, all of Mesa is about ready to shut down completely. Come this January 2009, Mesa's convertible notes come due, another round of notes are due in February. These two events were certain to wipe Mesa off the face of the earth FINALLY. Who wants to wager that JO now becomes successful in delaying those payments and now survives to terrorize another airline another day? Ron Burkle has in effect changed the future of the airline industry / empire (or did he ensure the future / same difference) by breathing life back into this lecherous cancer?

"The fall of Aloha and the survival of Mesa have changed the future of the airline industry. Billions more will be made (transferred, stolen) by the further raping and pillaging of the airline industry in the next round of takeovers. Aloha's employees' sacrifice to save our airline, preserve the industry and shut down Mesa was a valiant one, but ultimately ended in Vain. At least Hawaiian and Mark Dunkerly did not play the "Blame Mesa" game with the Hawaiian employees like Aloha did. Furthermore, Hawaiian has been very kind to the former Aloha employees. Hawaiian may once again come to the rescue if / when they out bid Yucaipa and gain the rights to Aloha's trademarks.

"At the end of March 2008, when we re-entered the bankruptcy court in Honolulu, we all saw the truckloads of paperwork presented to the court with our own eyes. It is clear that our demise was not only scripted but had been in preparation for much longer than the last two weeks of March. There was enough paperwork in that courtroom to keep a legion of lawyers nice and fat for several years. In the courtroom bleachers sat no other Aloha management except for Thom Nulty. He had the familiar look of pain and suffering that the rest of us all know very well. The demise of Aloha was all premeditated and scripted before the fact, but I am convinced Thom was NOT in that deep.

"The fact today is Yucaipa settling with Mesa for a measly $2million AND leasing them the rights to the Aloha name is not a conspiracy theory, this is bragging about their complicity publicly and arrogantly proclaiming there is nothing anybody on Earth can do about it.

"I urge the former Aloha employees to continue to focus on moving along and the creating a new future for ourselves. Airline politics in Hawaii will always be there. Hopefully without Ornstein after this January. Yucaipa betrayed us eight months ago, the only difference today is just that now it's finally clear to see. It's time to move on gang, today more than ever before. One day the truth will come out and be made public. For now, just let it go."

Mesa Buys Aloha Name Rights

Mesa Air Group has settled with the Yucaipa Company, former Aloha Airlines' owners, that would allow Mesa to use the Aloha Airlines brand. The deal comes as part of a measly $2million settlement of the suit Aloha had before its demise, last March.

The Honolulu Advertiser's coverage ...

All I can say, is that Rudy Tongg must be rolling in his grave! And ... a lot of former AQ employees must be upset over these series of events. I knew someone was going to buy the name rights and intellectual property of AQ, but I didn't expect Mesa to do it. For Mesa to do something like that, is like killing a person, then assuming their identity. ‘Auwe!

Ex-Aloha N835AL

N835AL flew from Mojave (KMHV) to San Jose Juan Santamaria International (MROC) in Costa Rica yesterday.

Air China's B-2643

Today's HNL RareBirds Classic goes back to 1999, when Air China took delivery of B-2643 (c/n 29878), a 737-89L. It was part of the first batch of "Next Generation" 737s that CA ordered. As of 2007, B-2643 still has its registration painted on the tail. Later deliveries have their registration painted above the rear passenger windows.

B-2643 is seen above taxiing to Runway 8R on Taxiway RT, headed for MAJ on the next leg of its island hopping delivery flight.

Mokulele Airlines - Day One

Mokulele Airlines (MW/TCF) made its E170 inter-island jet service debut early this morning with flights to KOA and LIH with both N868RW and N869RW flying.

N869RW (msn 17000133), seen above, taxies to Gate 50 as TCF206, arriving from LIH.

I was booked on the next flight to LIH, TCF209 / TCF214, which was the media flight, though the only other media there was a photographer from the Star*Bulletin, and videographer and reporter from KHON2.

Pacific Wings to Georgia Skies

Here's one of Pacific Wings' Cessna 208 Caravans in the new Georgia Skies livery shortly before it left the islands on November 4th, on a ferry flight HNL - OAK - VGT - TUL - AHN. Pacific Wings was awarded an Essential Air Service Contract in June 2008 to provide service between Atlanta-Hartsfield, Macon, and Athens, Georgia.

Virgin Blue E-190 VHZP?

A Virgin Blue Embraer 190 landed at HNL on a cloudy November 17th on its way to Australia. Delivery flights had been staging through LIH, but this one arrived at HNL, met by a platoon of firetrucks. After the uneventful landing about 4:05 PM, the fire crews quickly lost interest. I don't know what kind of problem they had. I also couldn't get a clear view of the registration letters.

The 2nd Mokulele E170 Arrives

The second E170 has arrived from Republic with the registration N869RW. It is parked at Gate 49 right next to N868RW. N869RW arrived on Saturday, Nov 15 as TCF9400 and followed the same route as N868RW. Service between HNL-LIH/KOA will be staring in 3 days (Nov 19).

HA 717-200, N489HA

The next ex-QantasLink 717-26R is now flying with HA. N489HA, Po`ouli, has been in the fleet for a few week now, but only now I was able to take a picture. While flying with QantasLink, this 717 was registered VH-NXB.

It's pretty easy to tell the new additions to the fleet as the tails are not faded. Two added to the fleet, two more to go.

Aloha Air Cargo's N840AL Unveiled

Adhering to a request from Aloha Air Cargo (KH/AAH), here are two shots I got from the official unveiling on October 15th.

N840AL (c/n 23124), a 737-2X6C, was named "Ho‘omaka‘ana Hou" (Hawaiian for "New Beginning") was unveiled to Aloha Air Cargo employees, family, business partners, and the media in a gala presentation set in the KH hangar. The new colors also represents a new corporate identity for the cargo division of the former Aloha Airlines (AQ).

The top photo shows the new livery in its entirety, anf the above photo shows the new tail logo, which may feature different colors on the subsequent re-branding of the other four 737-200Cs in the KH fleet.

ANA 747-200, JA8174

For today's edition of a pre-blog classic, here's a 747-281B from ANA. This aircraft operated as an extra section flight during the end of the New Year's period back in 2005. Here it is parked at Gate 17 in the Centre Concourse instead of the Ewa or Diamond Head Concourses.

ANA retired all their classic 747s in Fiscal Year 2005, with the last flight being in March 2006.

First Republic E170 for Mokulele

The first E170 from Republic arrived in HNL for Mokulele. Registration of this aircraft is N868RW. They flew this aircraft IND-GTF-ANC-ADK-MDY-HNL. Apparently this route was taken because Republic didn't install any ferry tanks. The aircraft is currently parked at Gate 50. As you can see in the picture, the livery looks exactly like the picture on the Mokulele website with the only difference is the addition of the word "Kapalua" below the logo on the tail. The second E170 is also on its way to HNL on the same routing.

Qantas VH-EBU "Nalanji Dreaming"

As we wait for the deliveries from Boeing to begin again, here's another pre-blog rarebird for everyone. In late 2004, Qantas switched their schedule to arrive and depart HNL during the late morning instead of the middle of the night. This was most definately a response to Hawaiian's entry into the Australian market and their daytime flights. It was great to be able to see Qantas' 747-338s during the day.

In December of 2004, VH-EBU paid a visit to HNL. This aircraft featured an Aboriginal art livery and named "Nalanji Dreaming." A few months after visiting HNL, VH-EBU went to Avalon (AVV), Australia for maintenance. However, she never made it back out. She ended up having her lovely livery painted over and parted out.

Canadian Airlines' C-FCRE

Today's edition of HNL RareBirds Classic goes back to 1997, and Canadian Airlines' (CP/CDN) DC-10-30, C-FCRE (msn 47868), which bore the signatures of many Canadian Air employees, and was named "The Spirit of Canadian". It's seen above at Gate 26 between segments of the YVR-HNL-YVR flights.

Sadly, C-FCRE was broken up in 2002 as N305FV in the Arizona desert. It began life as I-DYND for Alitalia (AZ/AZA) in 1975. It also flew with Pakistan International Airlines (PK/PIA) as AP-BBL, then onto VASP (VP/VSP - Brazil) as PP-SON, before going to Canadian Airlines. CP was eventually acquired by Air Canada in 2001.

A CP Air (CP/CPC) 747-217B (c/n 20929) previously was registered C-FCRE. CP Air was the predecessor to Canadian Airlines.

Billabong Grumman SA-16A Albatross, N121FB

To celebrate the ratification of the new IAM contract with Boeing, here's a special rarebird that spent quite a bit of time at HNL. This Grumman SA-16A Albatross arrived in HNL in the middle of December 2005 to start a promotional surf tour sponsored by Billabong and Hawaiian Airlines. This aircraft kept in the maintenance hangar for about a week. It then was moved over to Elliott on Christmas Eve, where I took a special ride out to get this shot.

Billabong got this aircraft to do a special 2 year tour to find the best surf spots around the world. It actually spent a lot of time in HNL before leaving the state. I remember the aircraft still being at HNL, parked by the HCC aviation school on the South Ramp when I went on my trip in May 2006.

Strike At Boeing Ends

Striking Boeing machinists have ratified a new contract, and will return to assembly plants around the country, to resume aircraft assemblies and delveries.

Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F D-ALCB

A couple of years ago, Lufthansa Cargo used to fly a MD-11F between HNL and AKL as part of a codeshare with Air New Zealand. This flight was part of a round-the-world routing that passed through HNL 2 or 3 times a week. The flight usually just stopped over in HNL for a couple of hours before leaving. Here D-ALCB is seen taxiing out for takeoff back on October 31, 2004.