Gathering Places
Gathering Places
Reality check
necessary to save
interisland routesAirline services, once the realm of a privileged few, are so much a part of our daily lives that we tend to take them for granted. During the halcyon 1970s and '80s, we became accustomed to half-hourly service from Honolulu to most neighbor island airports. Common-fare coupons, discounting and generous mileage programs opened up opportunities for interisland commuting, spur-of-the-moment family or weekend vacation trips, and a generally relaxed attitude toward the business operations and profitability of local airline services.
Four years ago, a senior airline executive addressed the Hawaii Island business community to offer some serious food for thought on the future of interisland air service. Direct flights to neighbor island airports, long sought by visitor industry advocates, would inevitably affect interisland schedules and service. At the national level, similar shuttle service between huge cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco operated at LESS frequency and at higher fares than Hawaii's interisland service. Higher interisland fares would become necessary. What would we, as a neighbor island community, be willing to change in order to ensure service levels? At that time, we did not have an innovative response.
Since 9/11, and particularly in recent months, we have seen schedule cuts, fare increases and even more serious questions of service continuance on the front pages of the daily papers. Schedule cuts, especially to Hawaii Island, are probably the No. 1 concern expressed to the new governor and the Legislature, and are definitely the hot topic at business meetings around the state. Visitors, residents, commuters, those with medical emergencies, businesses, air freight -- all are harmed by schedule reductions.
STAR-BULLETIN / 2001
Thousands of weekend commuters crowd into the interisland terminal at Honolulu International Airport.
We have to ask hard questions about our expectations for local airline service. The airlines must become profitable by inventory management and operational efficiencies, as well as the economies of scale in line with real costs. Higher fares are a given. The airlines also should implement electronic ticketing and penalties for untimely cancellations and no-shows. It may be time to discontinue or severely restrict mileage programs and use smaller aircraft (perhaps 40-passenger jets used for mainland shuttle). Schedule integration, code-sharing, new competition and new profit centers should be allowed to emerge.
We've had a great history of air service since 1929, but we cannot hope to sustain essential air service by demand or by legislation. In comparison with mainland travelers, we've had an outstanding air service level, in part because we simply don't have the interstate highways, buses or trains. We hope the affected parties will establish a dialogue to encourage the profitability and sustainable service that will benefit all stakeholders.
Paula Z. Helfrich is president of the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board. This letter was submitted on behalf of the HIEDB and the Big Island Business Council.
