Editor’s note: To inspire our readers’ language-learning journey, this story is offered in both English and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. We encourage reading both paragraph versions to deepen understanding of Hawaiʻi’s native language.

Mai ka liko a ka lāʻele, ʻanoʻai ke aloha iā kākou a pau loa. Ua lilo ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi i pulakaumaka ma ka Hui Waʻalele ʻo Hawaiian nei e ʻāwili pū ana i ke aloha nui no ka ʻōlelo makuahine me nā lālā o ka ʻohana, ko ke kaiaulu a nui, e me nā hoa aloha pū kekahi. ʻO kekahi kuleana o kākou ʻo ia ka hoʻopūlama manaʻo ʻana i waena o nā kānaka ʻakahiʻakahi o ke aʻo ʻana a hiki i nā mānaleo nāna ke kahu ʻana i ko kākou ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ʻana i loko o nā home, nā kahua hana e me ka ola.

Throughout February, Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language Month) takes center stage at Hawaiian Airlines, uniting employees as they share their love for ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi with guests, their families, their communities and each other. At its core, the month is about inspiring and empowering speakers, of all ages and skill levels, who continue to normalize a language that was once nearly extinct by using it in their homes, workplaces and everyday life.

I kēia makahiki no ka manawa ʻelua o ka welo o ia papahana i hoʻokipa ʻia ai ma ke kahua hana o ka Hui Waʻalele ʻo Hawaiian he 11 mau haumāna mai loko mai nō o Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Ānuenue, ʻo ia kekahi kula ma lalo o ka malu o ka mokuʻāina ʻo Hawaiʻi. Ua laulima maila nā limahana i ʻano mākaukau ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi he ʻumikūmākahi e hoʻokipa ana i nā momi ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi o ko kākou kaiaulu. Aia nō ka nui o nā haumāna ma ka papa ʻumikūmākahi a i ka papa ʻumikūmālua, a ua holo koke ka manawa i ka mākaʻimākaʻi ʻana me nā mahele keʻena like ʻole o Honolulu. Ua kau pū lākou ma nā mīkini aʻo pailaka, ua hōʻike hoʻi nā kuene mokulele i kekahi mau hiʻohiʻona o ka papa aʻo, ua wehewehe ko nā kānaka halihali ʻukana i ke ʻano o ia hana a ua hōʻike akula kekahi ʻākena a me kekahi mea mālama mokulele i ke ʻano o ko lākou hana, pau pū me ka wehewehe ʻia ʻana o nā hana ʻē aʻe i loko o nā keʻena e hoʻopā ʻole aku ana i kekahi mokulele. He mea paha ia e pūlama ai ka manaʻo e lawelawe ua mau ʻōpio nei i ka hana ma Hawaiʻi ko kākou home aloha.

This year marked an extension of that effort. Employees from across workgroups welcomed 11 students and two educators from Oʻahu’s Ka Papahana Kaiapuni, a K-12 language immersion education program under the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, as mentees for the day. The students, ages 17 and whose education is delivered primarily in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, spent the day doing hands-on activities across operational and training facilities at Hawaiian’s Honolulu hub. Pilots brought them into flight simulators, flight attendants demonstrated training tools and safety scenarios, cargo teams walked them through freighter operations and customer service agents showed how they care for guests — giving students a behind-the-scenes look at various aviation careers right in their home state.

He mea maʻamau i ka Hui Waʻalele ʻo Hawaiian ke kākoʻo i nā papahana ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi kula kaiapuni e holo ana mai ke kākoʻo ʻana i nā kula ma ka hana manawaleʻa me nā māla o ke kula, i ka hoʻolako ʻana i nā puke koʻikoʻi i nā hale waihona puke, a hiki i ka mālama ʻana i lā ʻoihana no nā haumāna o ia mau kula a i alakaʻi ʻia hoʻi e nā limahana I puka mai ia mau kula, a i ʻole nā limahana nāna ke keiki ma loko o ke kula kaiapuni.

Hawaiian Airlines has long supported Hawaiian language immersion programs, from sending volunteers to help restore schools’ native gardens and donating culturally significant educational books to inviting students to join the carrier’s youth career development and pathway programs. A number of its employees are also graduates of immersion programs or are parents with keiki (children) who have been or are currently students.

Ma waho aku hoʻi o ka hoʻokipa ʻana i nā ʻōpio kaiapuni i loko o ka Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi hoʻi i kākoʻo ʻia ai ka ʻoihana kū i ka ʻauhau ʻole ʻo Awaiaulu me ka puʻu kālā he $9,000 i mea e hoʻolako ʻia ai ʻaneʻane 150 mau kope o ka puke ʻo Waikaua Spoils of War ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi a me ka ʻōlelo Pelekania i nā kula kaiapuni he 13 a me nā hale waihona puke a pau o ka mokuʻāina ʻo Hawaiʻi. Ua kākoʻo mua ʻia hoʻi ua Awaiaulu nei me ka makana he $12,000 i ka makahiki 2023 i mea e hoʻolaha ai i nā puke ʻo Ke Kumu Apuni: The Foundation of Hawaiian Nationhood – he papahana unuhi hoʻi i nā moʻolelo a Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau i ke aupuni mōʻī o Hawaiʻi nei, a ua makana ʻia hoʻi i nā kula he 34 kekahi. Eia hou aku, i ka makahiki 2025 i kākoʻo ka Hawaiian Airlines Foundation i ka Pūnana Leo o Lahaina, he kula kaiapuni i pōpilikia ma muli o nā ahi laha o Maui i kōkua i ke kūkulu hou ʻana i ia kula no nā kamaliʻi ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi o laila.

In addition to welcoming Ka Papahana Kaiapuni students this month, Hawaiian contributed $9,000 to the nonprofit Awaiaulu to fund the donation of nearly 150 copies of Waikaua Spoils of War in both ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and English to 13 Hawaiian language schools and public libraries across Hawaiʻi. The donation adds to its support of local immersion programs, including a $12,000 donation it made in 2023 to Awaiaulu to aid in the distribution of copies of Ke Kumu Aupuni: The Foundation of Hawaiian Nationhood — a bilingual translation of Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau’s 19th-century historical writings — to 34 campuses statewide. In 2025, the Hawaiian Airlines Foundation gifted $50,000 to West Maui’s Pūnana Leo o Lahaina, an immersion preschool impacted by the Lahaina wildfires, to help the school rebuild while it continues to nurture Maui’s youngest ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi students.