Interisle flights shuffled
By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's two interisland carriers filed their new route schedules this week with the Department of Transportation, detailing how the airlines plan to split capacity on some routes under a recently granted federal anti-trust exemption.
The department said the airlines have asked for confidentiality on the filings, but Aloha Airlines said yesterday that it will reduce its interisland schedule by about 20 percent starting Dec. 2 under the plan.
Aloha said it will cut back its Kahului-Honolulu route 30 percent — from 23 daily flights to 16.
Daily flights between Honolulu and Lihu'e, Kaua'i, will decline 27 percent, from 18 to 13.
Honolulu, the airline's hub, will drop 19 percent, from 57 flights to 46.
Aloha said Hilo will be the only city to gain under the new plan. Aloha will increase daily flights there from eight to nine.
Yesterday, Hawaiian declined to say how it planned to reduce its interisland schedules. But the airline did say it has postponed planned cuts until January because of expected strong demand for interisland travel in December.
"There is no disguising the fact that the interisland market is broken and we need to fix it," said Stephanie Ackerman, senior vice president with Aloha Airlines. "So we are trying to fix what is broken by adjusting back the number of seats. ... We can't afford to keep flying around empty seats."
Aloha said it plans to return some flights to its schedule for a limited time starting Dec. 20 to meet peak winter travel demand.
The cost-cutting moves come in a year in which Hawai'i's two largest interisland airlines racked up millions of dollars in losses. Both are working under a federal antitrust exemption that allows them to coordinate seat capacity on some routes in the interisland market to reduce their costs.
The move to reduce airline seat capacity between the islands is expected to bring service more in line with demand and save both companies millions of dollars largely through reduced landing fees, fuel costs and other expenses.
Yesterday, Aloha's Ackerman said some early-morning and late-evening flights were dropped from the carrier's schedule because of low demand, but she said the airline will add flights if demand grows.
"Clearly this task of trimming our schedules has not been an easy exercise. People have been taking for granted a system where they can show up when they want to at the airport and jump on the next flight, and both carriers have suffered from that," Ackerman said. "Passengers will have to change the way they travel. ... They will have to show up ahead of time and on time for their flights."
On Dec. 20, Aloha will add one flight to the Kahului-Honolulu and Kona-Honolulu routes to meet an expected increase in demand for the holiday travel season.
Hawaiian officials said yesterday that the carrier's December schedule will be larger than the previous month's because of expected increased travel.
"We are actually up a few flights in December," said Keoni Wagner, a spokesman for Hawaiian Airlines. "It just so happens the first month (to coordinate capacity with Aloha) is a high-demand month and the problem of low demand is not quite as visible."
Wagner said Hawaiian will likely begin reducing its schedules starting in January as travel demand between the islands slows.
Reach Frank Cho at 525-8088 or at fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com.
