Posted on: Friday, June 27, 2003

Aloha plans increase in interisland flights

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Aloha Airlines will add more than 100 interisland flights per week for its summer schedule in response to a seasonal increase in demand, Aloha officials said yesterday.

Hawaiian Airlines said it has plans for a similar increase.

Between July 2 through Aug. 20, Aloha will make 823 total interisland flights each week, spokesman Stu Glauberman said. For the same period last year, Aloha flew 926 weekly flights. Hawaiian Airlines spokes-man Keoni Wagner said specific numbers were not immediately available for the airline.

The difference in the Aloha number is partly the result of the federal antitrust exemption that allows Hawaiian and Aloha airlines to coordinate interisland flight capacity until Oct. 1, Glauberman said.

Hawaiian officials said they have planned a similar increase in summer flight.

"Aloha is increasing service, with more departures at popular times of day, in response to seasonal demand from Hawai'i residents and visitors to the Islands," Glenn Zander, Aloha's president and CEO, said in a statement. "We already have more flights than any other airline to and from Hilo, and we are adding more flights between Honolulu and Lihue, Kahului and Kona," the statement said.