Fliers leave interisland behind
By Matt Sedensky
Associated Press
For 20 years, John Wert boarded an interisland flight and headed to Kaua'i for a week's vacation at his timeshare.
Not this year.
Frustrated with the price of airline tickets within his state, the high school science teacher will instead fly thousands of miles to the Mainland. The amount he would save on an interisland flight is no longer enough to keep him in the Islands for vacation.
"Rather than decrease fares to try and build riders up and fill airplanes, they've cut back flights, increased fares and generally made it inconvenient," said Wert, 60, of Mililani. "Eventually what you're going to do is drive everybody out."
One of the great advantages of living in the Islands — cheap vacations to other islands — is no longer such an advantage. As interisland fares increase, family reunions typically held in Hawai'i are popping up on the Mainland, off-island funerals are being skipped, and golf games are being played closer to home.
For now, Aloha and Hawaiian airlines are confident Wert's prediction that kama'aina will stop flying won't come true. But interisland travel has dramatically changed from just two years ago, when it was still possible to fly roundtrip between islands for less than $100.
The popular coupon system has been dismantled, flight schedules have been modified and across-the-board price increases have proliferated. Fares now range from $144 for the lowest-priced round-trip ticket to $212 for last-minute travel on the most popular flights.
Though they're in the air for just 20 minutes to an hour, interisland travelers go through the same security screening as passengers heading to the Mainland or foreign points. Lucky travelers face lines that are short; unlucky ones can wait for an hour in a line that snakes through the terminal.
What's left is a resident population that's sometimes furious, other times compliant, but always yearning for days when intrastate travel was cheaper and easier.
Aloha and Hawaiian raised interisland fares in March and again on June 1. The same carriers still occasionally offer flights to the West Coast or even Las Vegas for less than $350. Other airlines have advertised fares for even less.
"I'd like to give the business to Hawai'i, but I want to get the best price for myself," said Janice Kelii, 61, a retired customer service representative who travels more frequently to Las Vegas than to the Neighbor Islands. "You pay more now and your service is still the same."
"It's too much for me," said Sam Lefotu, 51, a retired state worker who has also opted for trips to Vegas, cheaply visited through package deals. "I waste my money if I go to the Neighbor Islands."
"For a little more you can go to the Mainland," said Clint Kanahele, 29, a bus driver in Honolulu. "To me, that's a rip-off," he said of Neighbor Island visits.
Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said short-leg flights — interisland trips of about 50 to 200 miles — cost the airline far more per mile than long-leg flights like a West Coast jaunt of about 2,400 to 2,800 miles — because "they are very different operations."
Aloha Airlines, which recently hired an executive to analyze pricing, would not answer questions about ticket prices.
Citing competitive reasons, Hawaiian would not reveal the cost-per-mile difference among its flights. But Wagner said there are certain fixed costs, whatever the length of the flight, that constitute a larger percentage of the price on interisland trips.
The highest cost, for crew labor, is dictated in part by Federal Aviation Administration safety regulations. Also, equipment and fuel costs and landing fees are spread among fewer passengers than on a Mainland flight.
The airlines also are trying to make up for years of economic trouble. Hawaiian, while it continues normal operations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, reporting losses of $58.2 million in 2002. Privately held Aloha reported it lost $23.5 million last year, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Whatever dictates interisland ticket prices, it's the travelers who are feeling the pinch.
"The consumer locally has been hit both ways, with higher costs and more restrictive options for travel," said Danny Casey, president of the Hawai'i chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents. "People have cut back on their interisland travel. They've maybe even looked at other destinations."
Comparative statistics on the number of Hawai'i residents traveling to the Neighbor Islands are not available. But numbers from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism show an increase in Hawai'i residents flying to Mainland and international destinations.
About 746,611 residents made such trips in 1992. Since then, that number increased annually to a peak of 1,001,174 in 2000. In 2001 — the last year statistics are available — it took a modest dip after Sept. 11, finishing the year at 982,508.
While more kama'aina are skipping Lahaina for Las Vegas, many continue to rely on interisland travel for work and play.
At the Hilo airport on a recent evening, Walter Love, 55, waited for a flight to his job in Honolulu, as he does three times a week. A dispatcher for Air New Zealand, Love has seen his monthly Aloha commuter pass rise from $724 in 1995 to $1,599 today, with two significant increases since Sept. 11, 2001.
But Love has no plans to change his travel habit.
"It's the only option I've got," he said.
