Hawaiian Airlines prepares to launch Amazon cargo service in October

Hawaiian Airlines took delivery of the first of 10 Airbus A330-300 converted freighters at its Honolulu base earlier this month and will begin operating the aircraft in October under a contract with retail giant Amazon, CEO Peter Ingram said during a telephone briefing on the company's second-quarter results on July 25.

He said the airline will spend the next few months familiarizing air, ground and maintenance personnel with the aircraft and implementing standard operating procedures.

The Hawaiian Airlines chief explained that building the infrastructure and systems to operate a cargo airline separate from the passenger business would currently be a drag on earnings because freighters would not have an impact on revenue until 2024.

Amazon is leasing 10 Airbus A330-300 jets from Seattle-based Altavair and will hand them over to Hawaiian Airlines to fly and maintain them under a 10-year contract signed in October. Amazon said the planes will replace aging Boeing 767 midsize wide-body jets purchased from another lessor. ElbeFlugzeugwerke GmbH, a joint venture between Airbus and Singapore's ST Engineering, is converting the fuselages from passenger planes to cargo planes.

The first aircraft delivered under the Amazon Prime Air badge was less than five years old and never began passenger service with any airline after Hong Kong Airlines rejected it, according to industry publication ch-aviation. Hawaiian Airlines executives had previously planned to start serving Amazon in the fourth quarter.

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