Maps

The MORE Airline: Hawaiian Airlines Inter-Island Pitch

Honolulu, Hawaii

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Description

A woman in a red muumuu presents a lei from the fold-out cover, urging visitors to "See All Hawaii." Three propeller-aircraft silhouettes in the bottom panel place this brochure before Hawaiian Airlines introduced DC-9 jets in 1966.

Hawaiian Airlines traces its start to 1929, when Inter-Island Airways flew Sikorsky S-38 amphibians between Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. The airline renamed itself Hawaiian Airlines in 1941 and, through the 1950s, built a reliable inter-island commuter network aimed at both residents and the growing tourist market funded by statehood (Hawaii joined the union in 1959).

The aircraft shown in silhouette at the bottom of the brochure are consistent with the Convair 340/440 family — pressurized twin-engine propeller airliners that joined the fleet starting in 1952, with Convair 440s following in 1959–60. Hawaiian entered the jet age in 1966 with Douglas DC-9 aircraft, cutting inter-island travel time to 20–30 minutes. Those earlier propeller silhouettes make 1966 a firm upper boundary for this piece.

The center photograph, captioned Honolulu Inter-Island Terminal, shows the departure hall where island-hopping passengers checked in. The yellow panel at right carries ticket office contact information — a standard feature of airline promotional folios distributed through travel agencies and hotel desks as much as at airport counters.

  • The diagonal "HAWAII" lettering in bold italic is a period convention common in mid-century American travel printing.
  • Hawaiian's main inter-island competitor throughout this era was Aloha Airlines, which began service in 1946.
  • The bottom tagline — "HAWAIIAN — THE MORE AIRLINE" — appears alongside a claim about safety record, a selling point that mattered when flying between islands still felt like an event rather than a commute.

Researched with claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on May 25, 2026. AI-assisted — verify before citing.

Details

Origin
Honolulu, Hawaii
Publisher◇ AI
Hawaiian Airlines
Coverage◇ AI
Hawaiian Islands, USA
Paper◇ AI
coated offset paper
Print medium◇ AI
offset lithograph
Color◇ AI
full-color

FeaturesAI

  • tri-fold pamphlet
  • full-color photographic cover
  • yellow contact information panel

Condition notesAI

  • fold creases at panel divisions
  • light overall toning

Tags

promotionalairlinehawaiiinter-islandtourismmid-centuryaviationconvair

Highlights

  • The diagonal 'HAWAII' lettering in bold italic fills the upper-left panel of the cover in a style characteristic of mid-century American travel printing.
  • A woman in a red muumuu wearing a flower lei dominates the cover photograph — the genre image used ubiquitously in Hawaiian tourism materials of the 1950s and 1960s.
  • A small photograph captioned 'Honolulu Inter-Island Terminal' shows the airline's main departure hall, with passengers visible in the waiting area.
  • A yellow panel on the right side of the middle section contains ticket office contact information, likely listing Honolulu and mainland California addresses.
  • Three aircraft shown in profile in the bottom panel carry the twin-engine, low-wing silhouette of the Convair 340/440 family — the propeller airliners Hawaiian operated from 1952 until jets arrived in 1966.
  • The tagline 'HAWAIIAN — THE MORE AIRLINE' appears in the bottom panel alongside what reads as a safety-record claim, both standard competitive talking points in the inter-island market.

Further reading