Hawaiian schedules 1st Boeing 787 flights with sleek new cabins

It's the dawn of a new era for Hawaiian Airlines.

The Honolulu-based carrier will finally inaugurate its long-awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliners in the spring, the airline announced this week.

The initial launch schedule will include three routes to the West Coast, as follows:

• Honolulu to San Francisco: Daily from April 15 to May 14
• Honolulu to Los Angeles: Select flights starting May 15
• Maui to Los Angeles: Select flights starting May 15

Flights are already available for booking on Hawaiian's website.

Hawaiian will start flying the planes to the West Coast, where it operates maintenance bases, before deploying its 787s on longer routes to Boston, Sydney and beyond.

For Hawaiian, adding new Dreamliners has been a long time coming. The airline officially placed its order in 2018, but the order suffered delivery delays. Now, the airline expects the first of its 12 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in January, with additional deliveries planned through 2027 — representing a nearly three-year delay from the original plan.

Passengers have lots to get excited about with Hawaiian's new jets.

Most notably, the plane will be the first on which Hawaiian offers a truly cutting-edge, business-class product. These twin-aisle jets will feature 34 business-class suites spread across seven rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.

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Perhaps most interestingly, the product blends an outward- and inward-facing layout across the cabin. The window pods face away from the aisle to maximize privacy, while the center seats face away from each other, facing the aisle but giving passengers some privacy from their seatmates.

Hawaiian went with Adient Aerospace's Ascent product for its business-class cabin; the carrier is marketing it as the Leihoku, or garland of stars, suite.

I've flown this product before with Qatar Airways, and it's a supremely comfortable pod, especially once the sliding doors are closed.

Throughout the cabin (and plane), you'll notice plenty of Hawaiian influences. For one, the airline is installing starry ceiling lights — in a nod to the constellations that guided Polynesian voyagers at night — above the business-class cabin to enhance the sleep experience on its Dreamliners.

The welcome area next to door 2L is inspired by Hawaii's native wood grains, while the purple overhead light in this area is patterned like a local flower.

The nose-to-tail mood lighting supposedly reflects scenes from the Hawaiian archipelago, including soft daylight, and soothing sunrises and sunsets. The carpeting's deep aqua color is designed to give an ocean vibe.

Other touches include the Hawaiian language integrated into the seat numbers and on placards throughout the plane. Even the lavatory occupancy signs are designed with Hawaiian dresses and shirts for the female and male figures.

Meanwhile, in economy, the airline will offer 266 seats in a standard 3-3-3 configuration. The seats aren't necessarily slimline like you'd find on an ultra-low-cost carrier, but they don't appear nearly as well padded as some other economy seats in the skies.

That said, Hawaiian touts that these seats feature more shoulder and hip room thanks to a modern design.

Most seats will offer 31 inches of pitch. However, 79 economy seats will be sold as Extra Comfort, offering 4 more inches of pitch, additional legroom and access to universal AC outlets.

All told, the Dreamliner will quickly become the flagship jet in Hawaiian's fleet. I, for one, can't wait to fly on it myself.

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