Mark Dunkerley Led Hawaiian Airlines Bouncing Back to a Billion-Dollar Business

Mark Dunkerley, right, president, and Peter Ingram, left

Mark Dunkerley is not the guy who spends too much time behind the desk

Hawaiian Airlines’ successful story

Hawaiian Airlines president and CEO Mark Dunkerley retired on March 1, 2017, and would be succeeded by Peter Ingram, the airline’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, the company announced.

“Dunkerley’s departure will end 15 years of leadership during which the company executed a remarkable turnaround to become one of the world’s most successful airlines,” a company news release said. “During Dunkerley’s tenure, Hawaiian Airlines successfully embarked on a bold Asia-Pacific growth strategy, adding service to Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; and Beijing, China as well as new routes to Auckland, New Zealand; Sydney and Brisbane, Australia; and New York City.”

“This has been a heart-wrenching decision,” said Dunkerley, who joined Hawaiian in December 2002. “I am so proud to be associated with this company and our employees. Hawaiian Airlines is truly in a class of its own, distinguished by all the employees I am honored to call my colleagues. At the same time, I am excited by the new opportunities ahead of me and I am confident that Peter Ingram and the team will lead the company to further success.”

“The truth of the matter is, I work with terrific people,” Dunkerley continued. “We have such terrific people on the front lines, in the back office, and they’re the real heroes of the transformation of Hawaiian Airlines, and we have come a long way.”

Dunkerley took great pride in knowing the airline was perfectly positioned to continue growing well after he stepped down, something he again attributed to his employees who, like him, were passing the torch to the next generation.

“What’s so satisfying to me about that is we’ve got our experienced, more senior mechanics working with a brand-new team of younger, less experienced mechanics to do a complex bit of work, which is changing two engines out,” said Dunkerley. “That’s the progress and the pride and the sense of moving forward that is so satisfying.”

Meet the man who led Hawaiian Airlines from bankruptcy to a billion-dollar business

Another great source of pride for Dunkerley was being in a business that not only brought the people of Hawaii together but shared a little bit of Hawaii around the world.

“We carry this community and what it stands for out to the corners of the globe,” said Dunkerley, “and we carry the banner of Hawaii in a way that no other carrier can possibly do that.”

“I love this place, and I’m a huge fan of everything about our community, and I’m an optimist about its future, and I want to have a front-row seat on seeing how our community develops in the years to come,” he added.

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