The September 11th attack
Hawaiian Airlines to cut flights 20%

By Michele Kayal
and Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawaiian Airlines will reduce its flight schedule by 20 percent and postpone delivery of new aircraft, the airline said yesterday, a day after rival Aloha Airlines announced it would cut flights by 26 percent and let go about 250 employees in response to a drastic drop in travel since the Sept, 11 terrorist attacks.

"We have no other choice, given current market conditions and the unpredictability of future demand," said Hawaiian Airlines chief executive officer Paul Casey. "We need to establish more appropriate levels of capacity to protect the viability of our operations going forward."

Hawaiian said its reduced schedule will begin Oct. 1 and include both its interisland and trans-Pacific operations. Hawaiian will cut 35 inter-

island flights from its schedule, leaving interisland service at 123 flights a day. The cutbacks reduce Hawaiian's schedule to the Mainland from 120 flights a week to 98.

Casey said he did not know yet how many people would be furloughed, or which departments would be affected, but an announcement on the staff cuts will be made early next week.

"We are looking at all areas of the company," Casey said. "The problem we are facing is no one knows how long or how deep this downturn will be."

Casey also said the company would delay taking delivery of nine recently ordered Boeing 767 aircraft because of the dropoff in travel demand. The company ordered 16 of the Boeing planes as part of a plan to phase out its aging DC-10 fleet and has already taken delivery of seven airplanes.

Casey said the weak demand for travel will not affect delivery of the carrier's final three Boeing 717 aircraft over the next couple of months. Hawaiian, which had ordered 13 of the aircraft, has already taken delivery of 10 Boeing 717s to replace its DC-9 aircraft used for interisland travel.

Casey said the company's planes are flying 50 percent to 55 percent full to the Mainland and slightly full on its interisland routes.

But Hawaiian is not the only carrier struggling to survive as a jittery public is largely staying away from air travel. United Airlines reduced flights by 20 percent and cut 20 percent of its work force. American Airlines also cut flights by 20 percent and laid off 14 percent of its employees. Delta Airlines announced yesterday it also would make cuts, and several European airlines also reduced operations.

Aloha Airlines said Wednesday it would trim its work force by about 8 percent, with some cuts effective immediately. Starting Monday, Aloha will knock 37 interisland flights from its daily roster, reducing the total to 113.