Aloha Air increases
flights for summerHawaiian Airlines also expects
a jump in interisland business
Aloha Airlines has boosted its interisland service by 108 flights a week and will raise the level by another 18 a week for the peak summer period of July 2 through Aug. 20.
The increase is about 15 percent more flights than earlier this month, to 823 flights a week from 715 a week in early June. The airline said it is reacting to a seasonal increase in demand from Hawaii residents and visitors. Competitor Hawaiian Airlines said it also is increasing capacity for the summer, but could not give specifics late yesterday.
Aloha had cut nearly 80 flights a week in December because of the normal winter slowdown in tourism and is now replacing those flights as well as adding some.
Aloha already has more Honolulu-Hilo flights than any competitor and now is increasing flights to Kauai, Maui and Kona, said Glenn Zander, president and chief executive officer.
Hawaiian said it has adjusted schedules in line with a capacity-sharing agreement set up under special legislation to prevent financial disasters in the airline industry after Sept. 11, 2001.
"We have established our capacity," including allowing for the summer increase in demand, said Keoni Wagner, a spokesman for Hawaiian.
Under the legislation, each airline makes an estimate of its own demand for seats in the coming month, and the total is divided in two, with Hawaiian and Aloha each providing 50 percent of the total seats. Each airline is free to make it own decisions on where to allocate its share of seats.
The neighbor islands are reporting increased tourism as part of a resurgence of travel from the mainland. Through May, Maui arrivals were up 8.5 percent, and Big Island arrivals rose 0.9 percent, while Kauai arrivals slipped 0.5 percent.