Posted on: Friday, June 6, 2003

Summer airfares rising

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Some airfares to the Mainland have doubled in less than a month, the sign of a busy summer travel season with more vacationers and fewer airline seats.

Round-trip fares to the West Coast had been around $300 in early spring and those fares typically increase to $400 to $500 in the summer. But this year, they've gone up to $600 or more for some round-trip flights to California, several Honolulu travel agents said.

Airlines are still advertising lower "bulk rates" and package deals, but most of the major carriers are booked through June, said Henry Nguyen of American Travel Agency in Honolulu.

The result is that some of the round-trip flights available to the West Coast between now and the end of June can cost $1,000 or more.

Other major cities are just as expensive. Tickets to Chicago were going yesterday for roughly $850 to $2,200 on Expedia.com. Fares to New York ranged from about $700 to $2,500.

Kelly Matsumura, a Lana'i City restaurant owner, may not take his customary summer trip to the Mainland because prices are so high.

He had hoped to at least get to Los Angeles to visit friends, but not with rates running between $600 and $1,000.

"Usually, even in the summer, you can find some good deals," Matsumura said. "But when you ask the airlines, they say they've cut their flights and they've got limited capacity. I've been looking for some type of fare sale, but it's hard to find. So I may not go."

Fears about war, terrorism and a shaky economy have dramatically reduced domestic air travel and some airlines have cut their flight schedules by as much as 30 percent over the past six months. Although airlines have been announcing new Hawai'i routes and passenger traffic to and from the Mainland has held relatively steady, travel agents said there seem to be fewer seats available overall.

"Summer's always busy," travel agent Thomas Sim said. "I've never seen it not busy. But there's a lot less inventory this year."

The demand has been exacerbated by a sudden flood of bookings since the end of the war with Iraq, said Duke Ah Moo, vice president of Pleasant Island Holidays. During the war, business slowed because people hesitated to make travel plans, Ah Moo said.

"Once the war ended, we got slammed with people who wanted to make reservations," Ah Moo said. "It's very good for us. We're doing very well. We're very, very busy, which is good. We needed to make up for the slow time we experienced earlier this year."

Some travel experts say they believe domestic travel will be especially strong this summer because of concerns about terrorism overseas and the SARS epidemic in Canada and Asia. Airlines say international bookings are weak and the availability of seats is high.

But Hawai'i remains a hot destination from the Mainland.

"Demand is very high this season," Aloha Airlines spokesman Stu Glauberman said. "This is a peak season so fares are higher."

A spokesman for United Airlines, Hawai'i's biggest carrier, said it's offering discounted, one-way Hawai'i fares of $273 to San Francisco and $390 to Denver, among other discounted routes.

"We traditionally offer fare sales for hot markets and that includes Hawai'i," United spokesman Jason Schechter said.

Even though some Hawai'i travel agents said they couldn't find them, Schechter insisted that seats are available at the discount rates for travel through Aug. 26. They represent fare decreases of 16 percent for the Los Angeles-to-Kona flight and 36 percent for the Denver-to-Maui route, he said.

Hawaiian Airlines is "not raising rates," spokesman Patrick Dugan said. "And for the summer, seats are available. But demand is good and prices are competitive."

But all of Aloha Airlines' cheaper seats are booked through July for places such as Oakland, Calif., Glauberman said.

"So is the next level of fares," he said.

People trying to fly to Oakland instead will have to pay Aloha's highest fare of $678.61.

"Demand is very strong," Glauberman said. "But compared to some of the high fares that are out there, Aloha's are low."

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