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Hawaii cruise
line, TWA sign
charter deal
American Classic Voyages
By Russ Lynch
will bring in passengers once
a week from St. Louis
Star-BulletinStarting in January, American Classic Voyages Co. will have a charter aircraft bringing passengers to the islands once a week for cruises aboard its American Hawaii Cruises and United States Lines vessels.
The company said it has signed a contract with Trans World Airlines, which will provide a Boeing 757-200 carrying up to 180 passengers on a direct St. Louis-Honolulu flight every Saturday for two years.
The cruise line currently runs the 1,066-passenger S.S. Independence on cruises among the islands, under the American Hawaii Cruises flag. On Dec. 9, a second ship, the ms Patriot with capacity for up to 1,212 passengers, will start cruising the islands under the United States Lines name.
The total capacity of more than 2,000 berths a week will mean a demand for airline seats, said Roderick K. McLeod, president and chief operating officer of New Orleans-based American Classic.
Most of the Hawaii cruise passengers will continue to travel on scheduled airlines. The TWA flight will have connections in St. Louis with TWA's Midwest and East Coast services, McLeod said.
Preparing for the Patriot's arrival, the Independence will move from Honolulu to Maui as its new home port on Nov. 9 and launch its cruises from Kahului. The Patriot will operate out of Honolulu Harbor.
American Classic has reported strong future bookings for the vessels.
In early 2003, the company plans to take delivery of the first of two new cruise ships being built for American Classic at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.
The 1,900-passenger vessel, under the United States Lines name, will nearly double the company's capacity in round-the-islands cruise and a second 1,900-passenger vessel is scheduled to go into Hawaii service in 2004.
"The TWA charter will bolster our seat availability as cruise vacationers increasingly view Hawaii as a cruising destination," McLeod said.
