Hawaiian Airlines' island hopper. Photo / Grant Bradley
Grant Bradley flies aboard Hawaiian Airlines flight HA142 from Honolulu
to Hilo on the Big Island.
The plane: A 128-seat Boeing 717-200. These workhorses of the inter-island fleet have a T-tail and twin engines at the rear. Hawaiian Airlines has 20, which complete 160 take-offs and landings every day.
The last of these planes was made in 2006 so the worldwide fleet is ageing, but three years ago Hawaiian overhauled the interiors of its aircraft.
My seat: 14F, a window in the 2-3 configuration Economy cabin. The seats are roomy — 18" wide and the pitch is between 29" and 31". In the First Class cabin there are eight seats.
How full? Just a few empty seats on the early morning flight. There was still plenty of space in the generous overhead bins.
On time? Six minutes early getting away. Hawaiian regularly tops time performance leagues in the US.
