by Monica Poling
Last updated: 12:50 AM ET, Mon February 26, 2018
Hawaiian Airlines has announced it is reducing the number of flights between Hawai'I and the Bay Area for the summer season.
Among the affected flights, a previously announced extra flight between San Francisco and Honolulu has been grounded. The airline is also temporarily halting a flight between Oakland International Airport and Kona. Oakland passengers will also have to wait a little longer to utilize seasonal service to Lihu'e, which was scheduled to begin April 11 but is now being deferred to July 15.
"We know how popular our seasonal summer flights have become, and we regret being unable to provide the full scope of services we had hoped to offer out of the Bay Area," said Brent Overbeek, Hawaiian's vice president for revenue management and network planning. "In spite of these changes, we continue to be the top carrier among Bay Area travelers visiting our islands and look forward to welcoming our guests onboard this summer."
According to Bloomberg, Hawaiian Airlines rolled out the re-jiggered schedules as the airline awaits fixes promised by United Technologies, Corp. on its beleaguered Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM engines which power the Airbus A320neo aircraft. According to the report, Hawaiian has taken delivery of two Airbus A320neos, one of which was affected by the engine issue, which affects a knife-edge seal on the High-Pressure Compressor (HPC)
The issue was first discovered in early February, when IndiGo, a low-frills carrier in India, announced it was grounding three of its Airbus A320neo's due to engine problems. According to a Pratt & Whitney media statement, the company has started implementing a solution to the problem, which is "isolated to a limited subpopulation of engines."
Pratt & Whitney has been playing defense on its A320neo engines as far back as 2016, when as many as 10 Airbus deliveries were placed on hold due to a separate issue, a cooling problem with the engines.
But the manufacturing company is not alone in facing engine problems. In December, a number of airlines grounded at least parts of their 787 fleet, due to issues with Rolls Royce-manufactured engines.
Hawaiian Airlines has announced it is contacting guests who have already booked seats on affected flights, who will be re-accommodated by the airline on other flights.
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