Aloha to add flights
to Cook Islands

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Star-Bulletin staff

Aloha Airlines will fly to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands with two flights a week beginning Dec. 9. The direct flights, on Mondays and Fridays, will take about six hours using the airline's new Boeing 737-700s.

Nearly 3,000 miles south of Honolulu, the Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy with a free-association arrangement with New Zealand to the south. The airline has not yet set a fare price.

Glenn Zander, Aloha's president and chief executive officer, said Rarotonga is an under-served community that is a popular destination for travelers from Vancouver, Canada, and Southern California, markets that Aloha now serves directly through Honolulu.

It is also a good connecting point to New Zealand and adds to the options for North Americans traveling through Hawaii to Pacific destinations. Aloha now has nine Boeing 737-700s, each with 124 seats, 12 in first class and 112 in coach.

The Cook Islands population is Polynesian and the main language is English, while many speak Maori, the tongue of native New Zealanders which is very close to Hawaiian.

The Cook Islands has an economic advantage for American travelers because its currency, equal to the New Zealand dollar, is worth less than 50 cents at today's exchange rates.

Zander said some travelers see Rarotonga as like Hawaii was 75 years ago, an with spectacular fishing, diving and snorkeling.