The September 11th attack
Air traffic to Hawai'i steadily improving

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Travel to Hawai'i is slowly picking up after the dark days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but no one is forecasting a return to normal any time soon.

Hawai'i is beginning to see an increase in visitor arrivals as the nation begins regaining trust in air travel. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Since the attacks, air travel plummeted and most carriers — including Hawaiian and Aloha — lopped as much as 20 percent off their schedules. Hawai'i's economy has struggled as the state's No. 1 industry wrestles with a sharp downturn in tourism that has led to hundreds of layoffs.

But the Air Transport Association, a trade group for the major U.S. airlines, said yesterday that flights nationwide were more than two-thirds full for the first time since the attacks three weeks ago.

Planes flew 68 percent full on Sunday, with 946,116 passengers, the group said. In September 2000, airliners carried about 1 million passengers a day and were about 70 percent full.

In Hawai'i, arrivals are down by about 30 percent from the same period a year ago, said Eugene Tian, chief of the tourism research branch with the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

That's significantly better than the days after the attacks when arrivals were off as much as 60 percent, and even last week when they were off by about 35 percent from last year.

"I think it's continuously improving," Tian said. "We were actually very encouraged to see the numbers."

Under normal circumstances, United flights to Hawai'i this time of year are full, Renville said. On Sunday, the airline's flights to Honolulu were about 85 percent full — up from the high-60 percent range of one week earlier, Renville said.

"That's still down from what we would normally be at, but it's still very encouraging, especially if we're able to at least maintain and continue to grow from here," he said.

United's flights to the Neighbor Islands were also looking better, he said. Maui and Kona flights were running 40 percent to 50 percent full through last week, he said. But over the weekend traffic picked up and those flights were running 70 percent to 80 percent full, he said, with traffic to Lihu'e 86 percent full.

State economists say they also have reason to be cautiously hopeful.

Yesterday, 3,900 Japanese visitors flew into Honolulu and Kona, Tian said. That's 1,000 more arriving Japanese visitors than Sunday, — an increase of more than 30 percent.

And although traffic from Japan was off 26 percent yesterday from one year before, it has improved since Sept. 24, when the number was off 59 percent from last year.

Recovery in the domestic market has been less clear-cut. On Sept. 24, the number of residents and domestic visitors arriving in Honolulu was 25 percent off the total from last year, Tian said. Yesterday, traffic was 29 percent off the total for the same day a year earlier.

"But it's back and forth," Tian said, noting that domestic arrivals to Honolulu now appear to be off between 25 and 30 percent from a year ago.

As more travelers head to the air, the biggest change has come in security — longer lines, additional police or National Guard patrols, and more thorough checks of baggage, computers and cellular telephones.

The Federal Aviation Administration over the weekend began allowing passengers to check their bags at curbside at some Mainland airports but under tighter security.

Curbside check-in had been banned since Sept. 11, but FAA spokesman William Shumann said the agency now is approving requests from individual airlines and airports if tighter security measures are followed.

Marilyn Kali, state department transportation spokeswoman, said she was unaware of any airlines resuming curbside check-in at Hawai'i airports. Spokesmen for national carriers could not be reached.

Aloha and Hawaiian airlines said they are exploring the possibility of resuming curbside check-in.

Meanwhile, as more visitors begin returning to Hawai'i, business is also slowly beginning to return.

Joseph Toy, president of the Honolulu consulting firm Hospitality Advisors, said he expects hotel occupancies in Waikiki last week averaged in the mid-40 percent range — up from 35 percent on the weekend after the attacks. The norm for Waikiki hotels this time of year is the upper 60 percent range, he said.

"We're slowly starting to see occupancy return," he said, "but clearly it's not going to be at the booking pace that we had hoped going into the busy (holiday) season."

The Associated Press and Advertiser Staff Writer Chris Oliver contributed to this report.