The carrier has applied for
By Russ Lynch
federal approval to start
in the year 2000
Star-BulletinHawaiian Airlines wants to start daily nonstop service between Maui and Japan, a route not served by any scheduled carrier. If it gets the U.S. approval it needs, the airline would begin the service at the start of the year 2000, using 304-seat wide-body DC-10 aircraft similar to those it uses in its Hawaii-mainland and Hawaii-South Pacific flights.
Paul J. Casey, president and chief executive of Hawaiian Airlines Inc., said today that the airline has applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation to become the seventh U.S. airline to be designated for Japan routes.
The opportunity arises because of the recent agreement between the United States and Japan to increase air service between the two countries.
Part of the preliminary pact calls for two U.S. airlines not now flying to Japan to get routes. The DOT would pick one to start later this year and award another U.S. carrier a Japan route to start in 2000. Casey said Hawaiian wants to get that second award.
Casey said Hawaiian would use the new route to promote Asian tourism to all parts of Hawaii.
"Given that Japan is such an important visitor market for Hawaii and that Hawaii will always be our home and focus, Hawaiian Airlines is intent on helping Hawaii to control its own destiny as a travel destination," he said.
Flying DC-10s nonstop to and from Tokyo's Narita International Airport would require the runway at Kahului Airport to be lengthened. Federal and state agencies are reviewing an environmental impact statement for that project.
"The extension project is still being considered," said Keoni Wagner, a Hawaiian Airlines spokesman. But Hawaiian doesn't want to miss out on an opportunity so it is proceeding with the application, he said.
"We're prepared to provide the service if the infrastructure allows it," Wagner said.
Hawaiian has had experience in Japan. In the early 1990s it had a daily Honolulu-Fukuoka flight under a lease arrangement with Northwest Airlines, in which Northwest provided the planes and crews but the flights were operated as a Hawaiian Airlines service.
The service wasn't profitable and was dropped but Hawaiian still has a cooperation agreement with Northwest connecting Hawaiian's interisland flights with Northwest flights from Japan and the mainland.
Hawaiian also has had an office in Tokyo for about 20 years and Casey has wide experience in the Japanese market through his previous management posts at Pan American World Airways and Continental Airlines.In other Hawaiian Airlines news, American Airlines yesterday said it has signed a code-sharing agreement with the local carrier.
Starting March 2, American will apply its "AA" flight designator code to Hawaiian Airlines interisland flights that connect with American's flights into Honolulu from the mainland.
American's passengers will book their trips all the way to the neighbor islands as American Airlines' flights, simplifying ticketing and baggage handling.
