Watch: Turning around a 230-tonne Hawaiian Airlines Airbus in 90 minutes

A Hawaiian Airlines A330. Photo / Supplied

From the time Hawaiian Airlines flight HA445 docks at its Auckland Airport gate a ground team of about 60 people have 90 minutes to get the aircraft ready for its next flight.

The 278-seat Airbus A330 must be disembarked, baggage and cargo unloaded, undergo an engineering check, be cleaned, security scanned, refuelled and restocked with food and drink for its return flight to Honolulu as flight HA446.

Country manager for the airline Rusty Willis says the turnaround is intense.

"Quite a bit happens in a very short space of time - we have basically an hour from the time we disembark the passengers," he said.

Engineers walk around the plane doing a visual inspection, check electronic systems in the cockpit and do work in the cabin if inflight entertainment systems need work.

"Cleaning can be pretty extensive, depending on the condition of the plane," said Willis.

Every blanket and pillow slip is changed.

For a full flight more than 550 meals are loaded in the 90-minute window, considered quick by international standards.On the ramp below luggage is coming off and being loaded for the departing flight. Three dogs bound for the mainland United States were loaded.

Around 57,000 litres of jet fuel is pumped into plane for the northbound flight which takes a little over nine hours.

On the Auckland-Honolulu flight an average of 10 tonnes of freight is loaded, much of it fresh food. On the inbound leg about half of that amount is on board.

During the past year there are 156 turnarounds for the airline which has been flying three times a week. This will increase to 238 from March when the airline starts flying five times a week.