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Beginning October 1, Delta Air Lines will resume several flights to the Hawaiian Islands that had been canceled earlier in the year. The flights from Los Angeles to Kauai and Hawaii’s Big Island, as well as from Atlanta to Honolulu, contribute to an 8 percent year-over-year increase in Delta’s Hawaii schedules and are being reinstated because of increased demand.
The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HCVB) reports that Hawaiian Airlines, go! Airlines, and Island Air have added service and aircraft to replace the interisland seats lost as a result of Aloha’s closure. Travel around the islands will become even more convenient in the next few months as Hawaiian Airlines adds 36 percent more seats to its fleet with the purchase of four more 123-passenger Boeing 717 aircraft. The aircraft will be introduced into service at the rate of one per month beginning October 1.
The HCVB is on a mission to correct what they characterize as misinformation in the media concerning shortage of airline seats to or between the Hawaiian Islands because of the closure of Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines in April this year. Some reports stated that the number of air seats between the continental U.S. and Hawaii had dropped in excess of 25 percent since the two carriers ceased operation. “That simply is not the case,” said John Monahan, president and CEO of the HVCB. “There were ample seats on flights from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii during summer and the same is true going forward into the fall.”
Airline schedule data provided by Sabre Airport Consulting Services, a leading airline industry research firm, shows that transpacific capacity dropped about 15 percent following the closure of the two airlines and has remained stable in the five months since. “That number carries even less impact because when those carriers were flying, there was an oversupply of capacity from the U.S. mainland,” said Monahan. “Getting to and from Hawaii is not an issue.”