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Crowded planes, higher fares on Hawaii routes
As airlines go under, it's become more costly to travel to paradise
 Heather Titus / Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) Hawaii is an incredibly beautiful vacation spot, but it has become more costly to get there from several U.S. mainland destinations as a result of Aloha Airlines and ATA going out of business. |
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Stop by the ticketing hall of Honolulu International Airport's InterIsland Terminal these days, and you'll see what a split personality looks like, up close.
One side of the terminal is clogged with passengers, many of them waiting in long lines just to use self-check-in. These are the Hawaiian Airlines counters. Down the hall, however, the Aloha Airlines desks sit in silence. A few lone, bored security people amble around, making sure nobody disturbs what remains of a once-vibrant airline.
Hawaii has always operated a little differently than other American states, with two daily newspapers in its small capital, Honolulu, and two state airlines, Hawaiian and Aloha. But at the end of March, Aloha suddenly went bust, leaving more than 3,000 employees without work.
Why do bad things happen to good airlines?
Crippled, it said, by predatory pricing on the inter-island routes that were its bread and butter, Aloha (currently embroiled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Mesa Air Group, parent company of the low-fare, inter-island flyer go!) insisted it could no longer compete, disappearing almost instantly.
The news for Hawaii wasn't good, but it was about to get worse.
On April 2, Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines, which was relied on for key mainland services, both by Hawaiians and by mainlanders coming to spend money, disappeared as well.
Many Aloha mainland services were operated by United Airlines — for instance, nonstops from Los Angeles and Chicago — but the loss of both Aloha's and ATA's departures represent a significant decrease in service, affecting markets such as Oakland, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Who benefits?
The news is certainly good for Hawaiian Airlines, which has been setting records since April 1, flying an unprecedented 718,767 passengers during the month, according to data obtained by Travel Weekly.
According to a Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson, an uptick in load factor — that's airline-speak for more fully packed planes — was part of the key to the airline scooping up extra butts. But Hawaiian's Keoni Wagner also told the Honolulu Advertiser that "the extra capacity we put in the market met demand."
Some of these extra services include a new daily nonstop to California's Oakland International Airport from Honolulu (a busy route for both ATA and Aloha). Hawaiian is also putting larger planes on interisland routes.
Immediately after the double-header of bad news, The Arizona Republic reported a $300 fare jump on available seats from Phoenix on US Airways, one of two remaining carriers serving the Islands (the other is Hawaiian) from Sky Harbor. The San Francisco Chronicle reported a similar jump from the Bay Area — $700 for an August roundtrip on United versus $420 on ATA.
A recent check of midsummer, midweek flights show fares starting at $670 round-trip on Northwest from San Francisco to Honolulu. Even so, on Memorial Day, Airfarewatchdog.com discovered that United slashed fares from both Newark and Houston to Honolulu and Kauai to under $300 including taxes, for travel through April 2009.
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