Hawaiian Airlines to increase capacity

Our friend Mike Toledo was with me in Hawaii not necessarily for a leisurely tour of the famed islands but for business. Mike happens to be the president of the local general sales agent of Hawaiian Airlines (HA) and joining him was general manager Joel Aquino. HA took delivery of its fifth Airbus A330-200 a few days ago and the new aircraft – which had been christened “Hokupaa” as a tribute to the North Star which ancient Polynesians used as a navigational guide for their voyages to Hawaii – had its inaugural flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu with 293 passengers, or only one passenger short of the full 294-seat capacity.

HA president and CEO Mark Dunkerley affirmed the airline’s plans to increase capacity, seeing that the demand continues to be strong across the Asia-Pacific region. Three new Asia routes have been launched over the past eight months, with four more A330s expected for delivery by 2012 and 13 more in the fleet by the end of 2015, Mark disclosed.

Despite the faltering US economy, the airline has shown impressive performance, overcoming problems such as rising fuel costs that have crippled other airlines. Interestingly, demand has not significantly decreased, enabling the carrier to turn in a profit – something that other US airlines can’t claim for themselves. This continued optimism was likewise reflected in the appointment of Peter Ingram as EVP and chief commercial officer, whose expertise on the revenue side of the business will be critical “at a time when a new era of growth is opening up a host of opportunities for Hawaiian,” Dunkerley said.

Latest figures from the 2010 US Census reveal that Filipino-Hawaiians now comprise the second-largest racial group in Hawaii next to Caucasians. Filipinos have consistently topped the number of immigrants to Hawaii since the 1960s - and their ties to the Philippines have been kept strong all these years. Obviously, there is a lot of tourism potential both ways between the Philippines and Hawaii, and HA and our national flag carrier Philippine Airlines can both benefit if they work together and get rid of stumbling blocks like the price wars for instance.

Charlie Rufino’s “Net”

Congratulations to my classmate Charlie Rufino whose The Net Group netted the Entrepreneurial Leadership Team of the Year during the Asia CEO Awards 2010. Charlie spoke at the Asia CEO Forum at the Dusit Thani Hotel yesterday on the future of office real estate in the Philippines and discussed trends on office real estate and the strategies that companies are employing to dramatically reduce costs while increasing the productivity of employees. Charlie’s group has become one of the largest private real estate developers in the country despite facing stiff competition from well-entrenched firms, with The Net Group now a dominant developer in Fort Bonifacio Global City. Its latest project, The Net Metropolis, is projected to be one of the largest commercial complexes ever in the Philippines spanning 144,000-square meters comprising three office towers ranging from 24 to 40 stories.

Spy tidbits

– Our hermano Don Pepe Rodriguez, former Director of Instituto Cervantes-Manila and now based in Madrid as editor-in-chief of Spain’s international news agency EFE told us that presidential cousin Rapa Lopa was in Spain recently to strengthen business cooperation between the two countries. Rapa is the executive director of the Philippines Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and he met with PBSP’s Spanish counterpart Humanismo y Democracia para el desarrollo (H+D), an NGO headed by Spanish congressman and long-time friend of the Philippines Rafael Rodríguez Ponga. Rapa and Congressman Ponga were at the Madrid headquarters of Casa Asia to discuss means to attract business ventures that would generate jobs and uplift people’s lives. The gentlemen were joined by the Philippine Ambassador to Madrid, Carlos Salinas, who we’re told has been doing an admirable job in enhancing the historic ties between Madre España and the Philippines.

– Global pubic relations firm Weber Shandwick recently launched its award-winning crisis management tool to the Asia-Pacific region. Dubbed “FireBell,” the software application simulates PR crisis situations including viral media attacks across multiple social media platforms. The Internet and the emergence of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc., has made brands and companies more at risk than ever before. In the Philippines alone, there are close to 30 million Internet users, and a simple negative blog about a company can create a crisis in just a matter of hours. “FireBell is to social media crises what a flight simulator is to an airline pilot learning to handle emergencies in mid-air,” says Weber Shandwick’s digital head for Asia Pacific Jon Wade, explaining how the social crisis simulation tool can help clients prepare for and manage crisis situations.

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