Kauai set to gain 2 Direct flights from the West Coast to Kauai are expected to increase this summer, with the addition of a weekly charter flight and a new route by a major carrier, tourism officials said yesterday.
direct mainland flights
American Trans Air is adding
one weekly flight, and American
Airlines may add anotherBy Star-Bulletin staff
American Trans Air is adding a weekly flight between Los Angeles and Lihue for its client Pleasant Holidays, said Susan A. Kanoho, executive director of the Kauai Visitors Bureau. The flight is scheduled for summer only right now, Kanoho said, but may remain if it proves popular.
Kanoho said a national airline has also been planning a weekly flight beginning in June, but that details are not yet ironed out. She would not name the airline, but it is rumored to be American. The airline has direct flights from Los Angeles to Lihue listed on travel Web sites.
Kauai already has daily direct flights by United Airlines, and a weekly charter flight by Sun Trips.
The Garden Island has managed to ride out the post-Sept. 11 downturn relatively well, the officials said, with overall arrivals dropping 6.5 percent for the year. The fall was the smallest of any island, with the exception of Molokai, which gained visitors for the year.
"Kauai is one of the least affected by Japanese tourism," said Bob Mullins, chairman of the visitors bureau.
Japanese arrivals to the island fell 3.8 percent for the year, compared with 15.9 percent for Oahu, which relies much more heavily on that market.
The island, though, is attempting to lure back more Japanese tourists -- many of whom stopped visiting after Hurricane Iniki in 1992. The number of Japanese arrivals was increasing in early 2001, and the bureau has printed some promotional material in Japanese.
In addition, tourism officials hope to spur travel to the island by focusing marketing efforts on U.S. East Coast travelers and the meetings, conventions and incentives market.