Hawaiian Airlines' Ticket Is Leisure: Best in Class

HONOLULU (TheStreet -- For Hawaiian Airlines(HA Quote), the closing of two principal competitors in 2008 appeared fortuitous.

Investors certainly thought so. Within six months, the carrier's share price rose 112% to $11.10. But then oil prices soared, the economy tanked and the shares tumbled nearly to $2.

Mark Dunkerley

Then came another reversal because leisure travel, which accounts for more than 70% of Hawaiian passengers, was not hurt as badly as expected. On Tuesday, shares closed at $7.55.

"Everybody in corporate America thought that 2008 was going to be an easier year than it turned out to be," CEO Mark Dunkerley told TheStreet.com. "But the story for us was one of being able to keep our head above water at a time when the flood waters were rising quickly.

"One of the fascinating and slightly counterintuitive realities is that business travel has been hurt worse than leisure travel, when (the opposite) would have been a reasonable expectation," Dunkerley said. "As a result, we have been profitable throughout this period, which is fairly unique for airlines." Hawaiian has reported profits for the past six quarters.

For now, instead of macroeconomic issues, Dunkerley is focused on the day-to-day struggles of running an airline, including pilot contract negotiations, a recent merger by Hawaiian's two inter-island competitors and plans by US Airways(LCC Quote) and Continental(CAL Quote) to boost Hawaii service this winter.

Hawaiian operates about 200 daily flights, serving 10 mainland cities, four in Asia and six in Hawaii. Its top mainline destinations are Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Seattle.