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Tahiti strike triggers
Hawaiian Air delays

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By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

A strike by workers who fuel aircraft in Tahiti has resulted in long delays for Hawaiian Airlines' charter flights from Los Angeles to Tahiti for Renaissance Cruises.

The flights, usually nonstop, now must refuel in Honolulu en route to Tahiti and in Pago Pago or Rarotonga on the return trip to Los Angeles, said Hawaiian Air spokesman Keoni Wagner.

That has caused a snowball effect, he said. He described problems with a flight carrying 254 passengers yesterday.

The plane was scheduled to leave L.A. at 12:30 p.m., California time, but the departure was delayed 8 hours and 35 minutes because it was late coming in from Tahiti, Wagner said.

Another delay occurred in Honolulu when Hawaiian Air couldn't find a replacement crew after the flight arrived at 11:44 p.m. for a 45-minute refueling stop, he said.

It left at 4 a.m. today.

An irate passenger who called the Star-Bulletin said passengers were kept "like prisoners" in a secure area.

Wagner said passengers initially were told not to leave the gate area because the airline hoped to find a crew. They were allowed to leave the area when that became impossible, he said.

Hawaiian Air had extra staff at the airport to help passengers and provided them with food, beverages, blankets and pillows, he said.

Hawaiian Air runs charter flights two or three times a week under a two-year $70 million contract with Renaissance Cruises, which operates two liners for cruises around Tahiti and French Polynesia.