Hawaiian Airlines, the only U.S. carrier to offer travelers complimentary meals on all transpacific flights for over three decades, is cooking up something new. Hawai‘i’s hometown carrier will introduce new elements in both food and fashion tomorrow by launching a new meal program for its North American routes while debuting uniforms by local designer Sig Zane across its network.

Guests in the main cabin on Hawaiian flights between Hawaii and Western U.S. gateway cities will be treated to complimentary meal service exclusively created for the airline’s new Pau Hāna Café brand. The new service, based on guest feedback, is being launched in preparation for the roll-out of Hawaiian’s new fleet of Airbus A321neo aircraft early next year.

“Our complimentary in-flight meals have been a hallmark of the authentic and warm hospitality our guests have enjoyed for decades,” said Avi Mannis, Hawaiian Airlines’ senior vice president of marketing. “In adapting our meal program for the narrow-body A321neos, we found that our guests highly value opportunities to interact with our in-flight crew, so we added more service touch-points during their travel.”

Hawaiian’s Mahalo Service includes a Koloa Breeze cocktail and its signature Pau Hana snack mix

The Pau Hāna Café, branded meals made exclusively for the airline, consists of a continental breakfast box for brunch and hot sandwich and side for lunch. Pau Hāna, a Hawaiian term for “finished work,” is a time to relax and unwind after a long workday.

The meal service will be followed by coffee and a sweet treat for dessert. A parting Mahalo service features the carrier’s popular Koloa Breeze cocktail, featuring Koloa Rum from the Island of Kauaʻi, and our signature Pau Hāna snack mix (above).

As Main Cabin guests enjoy The Pau Hāna Café, the airline’s extremely well-received Featured Chef Series overseen by Hawaiian Airlines Executive Chef Chai Chaowasaree will remain in place for First Class guests traveling from Hawaii to North America.

Hawaiian also welcomed its newest Featured Chef, Wade Ueoka of MW Restaurant. Chef Wade’s meal cycle runs through June 2018 and includes island-inspired dishes such as a cold tofu salad with kimchee, watercress, kaiware sprouts, yuzu kosho vinaigrette appetizer and a ground beef and Portuguese sausage meatloaf with home-style gravy, sautéed mushrooms, potatoes and kale entree.

The updated meal program coincides with the debut of new uniforms for over 5,000 of Hawaiian’s front-line staff globally. The pieces by Hilo-based designer Sig Zane were unveiled during last year’s HONOLULU Fashion Week as employees from Airport Customer Service, Cabin Service, Cargo, In-Flight, Line Service, Maintenance, Ramp, and Supply walked the runway. The print’s theme, Kū Mākou, or Together We Stand, is represented by the lehua blossom and ‘ohe kapala (bamboo stamps) through every piece of each work group’s uniform, as applied in different scales and tonalities to prints, linings and woven elements.

In related news, Hawaiian Airlines will now introduce the new Airbus A321neo into revenue service on December 19, 2017 between Honolulu and Kona as flight HA118 per Airline Route.

In January the airline will introduce the new type to the Mainland with Kahului – Oakland (January 8, 2018) and Kahului – Portland, OR (January 18, 2018).

Top Copyright Photo (all others by Hawaiian): Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321-271N WL D-AYAF (N202HA) (msn 7917) XFW (Gerd Beilfuss). Image: 939629.

Hawaiian Airlines on October 27, 2017 took delivery in Hamburg of its first Airbus A321neo. The pictured A321-271N D-AYAF (msn 7917) became N202HA on the hand over.

This is the first of 18 Airbus A321s on order through 2020.

The A321s will help the carrier replace the eight remaining Boeing 767-300s.

The first A321 daily route will be between Kahului, Maui and Portland, Oregon starting on January 18, 2018.

The second route will be between Kona, Hawaii and Los Angeles starting on March 11, 2018.

The third route will connect Lihue, Kauai with Oakland commencing on April 11, 2018.

The airline previously issued this statement:

Hawaiian Airlines will expand its U.S. West Coast presence with the arrival of an A321neo fleet by adding three new nonstop daily routes early next year: Portland-Maui; Oakland-Kaua‘i; and Los Angeles-Kona.

The new A321neo service between Portland (PDX) and Maui (OGG) will launch on January 18. Hawaiian’s seasonal widebody service currently offered between Oakland (OAK) and Kaua‘i (LIH) through September 4 will resume April 11 as a daily A321neo flight. Daily service between Los Angeles (LAX) and Kona (KOA) on the Island of Hawai‘i launches March 11 with widebody aircraft before the A321neo is introduced in the summer of 2018.

Hawaiian’s inaugural A321neo flight between the U.S. West Coast and Hawai‘i is planned for January 8 on its existing OAK-OGG service. Additional routes will be announced as Hawaiian welcomes 18 new A321neo aircraft between the fourth quarter of 2017 and 2020.

Hawaiian’s signature style flows throughout the A321neo’s three cabins, including 16 luxurious leather recliners in the Premium Cabin, 45 Extra Comfort premium economy seats, and 128 Economy class seats. All seats are equipped with complimentary high-power USB outlets for device charging, while guests in the Premium Cabin and Extra Comfort seats will enjoy access to an additional AC power outlet. Pivoting overhead bins maximize the space for carry-on luggage.

Hawaiian carefully designed its A321neo cabin interiors with textiles and materials that reflect traditional island crafts, from bark cloth (kapa) to fishing nets, and even LED lighting mirroring Hawai‘i’s idyllic sunrises and sunsets.

New to Hawaiian’s guest experience, the A321neo will feature wireless streaming in-flight entertainment. Guests will be able to simply download an application on their personal electronic devices to enjoy a wide selection of complimentary and premium content, including movies, TV shows, music and other exclusive programming. Holders for personal hand-held devices and tablets will be integrated into the tray tables of the Premium Cabin as well as the first row of Extra Comfort, and built into the backrest of all other seats.

The A321neo boasts the quietest and most fuel-efficient engines for this aircraft type, along with aerodynamic wingtips called Sharklets that significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Copyright Photo: Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321-271N WL D-AYAF (N202HA) (msn 7917) XFW (Gerd Beilfuss). Image: 939629.