Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) has denied claims circulating in the international media to the effect that it has cancelled an order for six A330-800s.

Last week, reports indicated the carrier had terminated its contract with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) in favour of a deal with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for B787-9s. In October last year, CEO Mark Dunkerly said Hawaiian's interest in the B787 stemmed mainly from weak global A330-800 sales.

"The A330-800 order has not been cancelled," spokeswoman Ann Botticelli told ch-aviation in a statement. "What we have said is that it is well-known that we have been negotiating with Boeing and Airbus for the next addition to our fleet. We have not signed an agreement with either manufacturer [at this stage]."

Hawaiian Airlines is due to take delivery of its first pair of A330-800s in 2019 followed by two more in 2020 with the final two due in 2021. It also has purchase rights for a further six of the type. For its part, Airbus has already rolled out its first A330-800 test aircraft in the form of F-WTTO (msn 1888). Its first flight is scheduled for sometime in mid-2018.