Among the highlights, go! Airlines new Hawaiian-language web site asks fliers' for la ha'alele (departure date) and la ho'i (return date). – Screen shot: lelegowau.com

By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola

Got plans for Holoholo? Go! Airlines has given new meaning to the term Flyin' Hawaiian with the debut of its all-Hawaiian language web site that allows patrons to book airfare in 'ōlelo Hawai'i.

“Everybody's saying this is the first Hawaiian-language site for e-commerce, so this is pretty cool,” said Frank Among, e-commerce vice president for Mesa Air Group Inc., the parent company of go!

On the site — www.lelegowau.com, which translates to www.iflygo.com — patrons select things like “lā ha'alele” (departing date) and “kahi e lele aku ai” (destination), click on “go!” and flight options appear, including “kumukū'ai huinanui” (total cost) and “no ho'okahi kanaka” (kama'āina rate). Go! plans to add car and hotel bookings to the site by April, Among said.

“We want to perpetuate the Hawaiian language and bring it into the new century, that's the whole goal,” he said, adding that he hopes other airlines and businesses will also begin to offer Hawaiian-language web sites. “Hawaiian is an official language of the state – you can write checks in Hawaiian, if you go to court you can speak in Hawaiian, so it only makes sense,” he said.

The site had a soft launch Feb. 15, two days before its unveiling at the Ho'omau benefit concert for O'ahu's Hawaiian-language immersion schools. Proceeds from lelegowau.com will benefit immersion schools, Among said.

For translation help, go! enlisted the students of Kula Kaiapuni 'o Ānuenue, a Hawaiian-language immersion school in Pālolo, as well as the Hawaiian-language lexicon committee led by Larry Kimura of UH-Hilo, which created new words to accommodate terms like “itinerary” and “travel package,” and University of Hawai'i Hawaiian Studies and Hawaiian language student Kaulana Vares and culture and language expert Manu Boyd.

As for the Ānuenue students, they have their own ideas for the web site they helped create. “The kids want to volunteer to do live-chat support in Hawaiian and eventually, hopefully we can add some staff to answer calls,” Among said.

Moms and dads also share the enthusiasm, he said. “We've gotten the parents in tears saying the reason they send their kids to immersion school is because they wanted them to use Hawaiian every day, and this is just one more step. It's pretty touching.”