Great! a customer emerges... -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Steven Catron Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 12:42 PM To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU Subject: Hawaiian/Aloha may buy more 717s Hawaiian, Aloha may order more Boeing 717s--report SEATTLE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hawaii's two main airlines will build their combined interisland fleet with Boeing Co.'s (NYSE:BA - news) 717, giving the slow-selling jetliner a badly needed boost, the Honolulu Advertiser reported in its Tuesday edition. Hawaiian Airlines Inc. (AMEX:HA - news) and Aloha Airgroup Inc., which last December announced plans to merge, will replace 18 aging Boeing 737-200s with the 106-seat 717 and order up to 12 Boeing 757s or 767s for flights to the mainland, the paper reported. A Boeing spokesman said he could not immediately confirm the deal. Hawaiian Airlines officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. Hawaiian already operates 12 717s and plans to replace four older DC-9s with the 717, Boeing smallest model which nearly went out of production for lack of orders. Greg Brenneman, the former president at Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE:CAL - news) who will run the combined airline, told the newspaper that he was negotiating with Boeing to lower the lease rates on the 717s, which could save millions of dollars. Brenneman predicted the merged carrier would grow by adding long-range flights going forward, shrinking the interisland business to about a third of the total from about one half now, the paper reported. New nonstops could connect Hawaii to Phoenix and smaller California cities like Sacramento and Fresno, Brenneman told the paper. http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020122/n22126209_1.html