Hawaiian, other airlines take flight on ATA routes

Hawaiian Airlines added nonstop daily service to Oakland, Calif., yesterday, giving the carrier coverage of all routes formerly flown to Hawaii by ATA Airlines.

The service, announced after ATA ceased operations yesterday, will start May 1, with tickets available starting today. Aloha Airlines, which flew its last passenger flights Monday, also had nonstop Oakland service.

The Hawaiian flight will depart Oakland daily at 9 a.m. and arrive in Honolulu at 11:05 a.m. The return flight will depart Honolulu daily at 1:30 p.m. and arrive in Oakland at 9:25 p.m. Hawaiian's Boeing 767-300 aircraft, which seats an average 260 passengers, will provide 95,000 seats annually to the route.

"The East Bay market has a strong affinity for Hawaii and we wanted to make sure its travelers would continue to enjoy convenient, nonstop service," Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Hawaiian was the only carrier announcing additional flights yesterday in the wake of ATA and Aloha shutting down.

Chicago-based United Airlines, which operates 21 daily flights between the mainland and Honolulu, Kona, Lihue and Kahului, brought in larger aircraft for its Hawaii flights earlier this week but has not yet made any other decisions concerning isle capacity.

"We'll review it on a day-to-day basis," said spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.

Phil Gee, a spokesman for Phoenix-based US Airways, said, "Right now we don't have any plans on increasing our capacity. We do increase it from April to August because it's a peak season, typically by 25 percent."

No other airlines would comment yesterday on prospects for long-term expansion.

Hawaiian Airlines also added a single round-trip flight to San Francisco that will depart this afternoon and arrive back in Honolulu early tomorrow. That flight comes two days after the carrier offered a one-time free trip from Honolulu to Los Angeles for displaced Aloha passengers.

Several trans-Pacific carriers had discounts and other alternatives for stranded isle travelers.

Other carriers are accepting ATA tickets with an additional $100 fee.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is offering a $100 standby fare for isle travelers stranded by either ATA or Aloha.

Northwest Airlines said it is offering ATA customers and employees a standby option for $100 per segment or a confirmed seat with a $200 fee on travel to or from Hawaii through May 3.

US Airways will accept tickets for standby travel from passengers who were scheduled to fly on ATA to or from Hawaii on a standby basis for a $100 fare through Thursday.

Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines are also offering $100 unconfirmed seats through April for affected ATA passengers.

American Airlines is accepting ATA tickets without a fee only for flight segments that had been booked by ATA on American Airlines flights, said spokesman Tim Wagner.