Editorials
Thursday, May 2, 1996
Tokyo-Kona airline route
OK is big plus
DELAYED by disputes over other U.S.-Japan air routes, the new Japan Airlines direct flights between Tokyo and Kona have finally been approved. They should be a major boost for Big Island tourism. The flights - three a week - are expected to bring as many as 48,000 visitors a year to the Big Island with an annual financial impact of at least $100 million.
The flights were supposed to begin April 1, but Washington withheld approval because Tokyo refused to permit United Airlines to fly additional routes into and through Japan. Under a temporary agreement, United gets more Japan service and its long-sought Osaka-Seoul route, while Japan Airlines gets to operate direct flights to Kona. In addition, JAL gets four more weekly flights on its Sendai-Honolulu route to go with three a week previously allowed.
However, the U.S. approval for the Kona flights is good only through Oct. 26 and the additional Sendai-Honolulu flights are permitted only for five weeks. The approvals were limited in order to ensure that negotiations on a new U.S.-Japan airline agreement get under way as scheduled.
When the Kona flights were held up, Governor Cayetano complained that Hawaii was unfairly being held hostage to the air route negotiations. Fair or unfair, that's the way it works. The Kona flights only won Washington's OK when Tokyo gave something in return. It's a quid pro quo situation.
Fortunately, the problem has been cleared away, at least temporarily. But more airline negotiations lie ahead, and it's always possible that Hawaii could again be victimized.
The Kona flap illustrates the vital importance airline flights have for Hawaii tourism. With inadequate air service, the visitor industry can't grow. With the industry making a strong recovery, its essential that enough airline seats be available to accommodate the demand.
Other editorials in brief:
Not really independent
THOSE defiantly anti-government rebels, the so-called Freemen, who are holed up on a Montana ranch under siege by the feds, aren't so anti-government after all. It turns out that the owner of the ranch, Ralph E. Clark, and his partners received about $676,000 over the past decade in government farm subsidies. It reminds us of the elderly middle-class people who fiercely oppose welfare programs for the poor. They claim to be against subsidies. But they fail to recognize that they are beneficiaries of the biggest subsidies of all - the tax deduction for home mortgage interest, Social Security and Medicare. Some refuse to abandon the illusion that they are independent of government assistance. Like the Freemen, they need a reality check.
Reading fast lips
FORMER President Bush's "no new taxes" campaign promise came back to haunt him, but not with the promptness of this week's resignation by Sheila Copps as Canada's Liberal deputy prime minister. Her departure is refreshing evidence that politicians can be held accountable for their promises, although it was not pretty. During her 1993 campaign for the House of Commons, Copps told a town hall meeting, "If the GST (Goods and Services Tax) is not abolished, I will resign." When the government acknowledged last week that it would not abolish the national sales tax, she was reminded of her 1993 vow.
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Rupert E. Phillips,CEO
John M. Flanagan,Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro,Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang,Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner,Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser,Contributing Editor