When I reflect on everything that makes modern-day air travel possible, my mind sometimes wanders to the Polynesians who embarked on open-ocean odysseys thousands of years ago. Without instruments, they relied on indigenous wisdom, celestial navigation and other traditional wayfinding techniques to discover the Hawaiian Islands and bring Pacific communities together.
While our GPS and fly-by-wire aircraft are a stark contrast to the voyaging canoe, we nonetheless share roots as pioneers of Pacific travel. In 1929 our company's founders inaugurated commercial air service linking the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago. Today, we connect our Island home with the world and share its rich culture wherever we operate. In doing so, Hawaiian Airlines must cross the same Pacific seas mastered by wayfinders of the past and today.
We are continuously humbled by their skill and bravery and strive to honor their legacy in ways large and small, such as naming our transpacific widebody aircraft after the same constellations that guided them.
We are also the exclusive airline partner of the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS), a collective of watermen and women spanning generations that is committed to perpetuating traditional Polynesian wayfinding and the spirit of exploration. We've backed PVS's mission since its inaugural voyage to Tahiti in 1976 and most notably via our title sponsorship of its Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage, an epic six-year global journey launched in 2013 with the double-hulled canoes Hokulea and Hikianalia.
During the Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage, 245 crew members sailed more than 50,000 nautical miles across the globe with the message "to care for our Island Earth." In the process Hokulea and Hikianalia visited 100 ports, 27 countries and 13 marine World Heritage sites. The historic expedition demonstrated the impact of exchanging culture, preserving island intelligence and sharing stories and lessons that will inspire communities to come together to protect the oceans and natural resources.
Malama Honua also reinforced our own kuleana (responsibility) as Hawaii's airline for the well-being of the archipelago's environment, culture and communities. We continue the work of caring for this beautiful place that we are so lucky to call home and to hold ourselves accountable by outlining our sustainability commitments and progress in our annual Corporate Kuleana report.
I'm proud that this spring Hawaiian Airlines became a sponsor of PVS's "Moananuiakea: A Voyage for Earth," an ambitious 47-month journey scheduled to set sail this year. The voyage plan includes 43,000 nautical miles, 36 countries, nearly 100 indigenous territories and 345 ports visited by 400 crew members. As the official airline sponsor for Moananuiakea, we've donated 34 million air miles for crew travel and committed to transporting cargo to support the voyage throughout the Pacific. Our title in the voyage will be Moae Ku, which is the predictable, steady and reliable wind on which navigators depend.
Our ohana is honored to be a backbone for Moananuiakea and to once again stand alongside the hundreds of navigators who will guide Hokulea to distant shores and home again.
From our ohana to yours,
