Cruise line seeks assist from air
By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer
Airlines that serve Hawai'i should have plenty of seats for new cruise passengers, a Norwegian Cruise Line executive said yesterday, but the newcomer company has begun exploring additional options for crunch times.
"We think the existing (number of airline seats) is sufficient," said Robert Kritzman, senior vice president of Norwegian Cruise Line, which will base its 2,200-passenger ship, the Star, in Honolulu starting in December.
Some tourism executives have worried that the arrival of the Star and the 100,000 passengers it expects to carry around the Islands each year will squeeze airline seats already thought to be in short supply. But Kritzman said pre- and post-cruise stays will break up the arrival and departure times of Norwegian's visitors, avoiding bunching up of demand.
In addition, he said information from the state and various airlines indicates Hawai'i has enough airline seats to accommodate the needs of cruise lines and land-based tourism businesses.
The presentation failed to satisfy some local executives, however, who said more needs to be known.
"There's not enough information about length of stay, the number of pre- and post-cruise nights, to say whether there is or isn't a problem," said John Votsis, consultant to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and a member of the airline panel.
Norwegian often charters aircraft for its passengers during peak and holiday periods, Kritzman said, and it has begun talking with charter companies about potential needs in Hawai'i. Permanent charters could be used if necessary, he said.
"What would trigger it is if (airline seats are) unavailable or prohibitively expensive," he said.
American Classic Voyages, which has two ships making interisland cruises each week, signed a two-year deal with Trans World Airlines last July for a dedicated aircraft to fly its passengers to and from Hawai'i each week.
Under the contract, set to run through December 2002, TWA would supply a 180-seat Boeing 757-200 to fly a round trip between St. Louis and Honolulu every Saturday, dropping off passengers to begin their interisland cruises and taking home passengers who finished their cruises.
The majority of American Classic's passengers, however, would still be served by regularly scheduled flights, American Classic executives said at the time.
Regularly scheduled planes coming to Hawai'i flew between 70 and 82 percent full for the first four months of the year, according to state information cited by Kritzman.
In addition, he said between 11,000 and 27,000 seats went unused on days that Norwegian anticipated its clients would travel.
