But the tenuous nature of the recovery is causing airlines to take a wait-and-see attitude before investing in restarting flights to the Islands in a major way.

After Japan Airlines announced earlier this year that it was suspending flights from smaller regional airports in Japan to Hawai'i, the airline said it would instead operate a select number of charter flights from those cities beginning in November.

It's a move to stimulate travel from Japan, but one taken tentatively given the early stages of a fragile recovery.

Offering charter flights instead of scheduled flights allows the airline to share the investment with major travel agencies like JTB and Jalpak and affords more flexibility to add or cut flights.

"Right now we're just crossing our fingers and seeing what will happen in the future," said Gilbert Kimura, director of passenger and cargo sales in Hawai'i for Japan Airlines, the largest carrier between Japan and Hawai'i.

The charter plans include 12 flights from Sapporo, 10 flights from Sendai and four flights from Niigata to Ho-nolulu from November through March. Passengers will likely be flown on 747s or DC-10s, which typically carry 300 to 385 people, said Kimura.

The charters will mean far fewer airline seats to Hawai'i from the current schedule of daily flights from Sapporo, four weekly flights from Sendai and one weekly from Niigata and the summer season schedule of twice weekly flights from Hiroshima. The suspension of those flights was part of a strategy to cut unprofitable routes.

Japan Airlines and other airlines are also offering discounted fares to generate more business. For the long term, JAL plans to sponsor more cultural and sports events like the Honolulu Marathon to lure more tourists to the state.

Meanwhile, All Nippon Airways is planning to operate 30 charter flights from November through March from Sapporo, Sendai and other cities, according to Eiji Miyamoto, general manager of ANA Hallo Tours.

The new charter flights are another sign that fear of SARS among travelers has eased.

"We're seeing the recovery," said Yujiro Kuwabara, JTB's general manager of tour planning and marketing. JTB's business from Japan is about 10 percent below last year, an improvement from declines of 30 percent to 40 percent or more earlier this year.

"This kind of charter flights means it's an on-demand basis, so I think it's a good idea and it's good for Hawai'i," said Ryokichi Tamaki, vice president of Jalpak International Hawai'i Inc.

A poor rice harvest in Japan after a colder-than-usual summer, he said, means Japanese from agricultural regions like Sendai may not be able to travel, and filling scheduled flights would be difficult.

Tourism executives say it's too early to tell whether the charter flights will be enough to meet demand for travel from Japan. Among the complicating factors is a recent case of SARS in Singapore that has some in the Japanese tourism industry concerned.

Many don't expect a recovery to year-ago levels of travel to Hawai'i until next year.

"The industry is in a slow, gradual recovery," said Sharon Weiner, a Hawai'i Tourism Authority board member, who is also DFS Group vice president. She said it's important to have enough flights, and supplying just enough airline seats to meet demand isn't sufficient.

"What happens is if people can't get a particular seat at a particular time they'll just go to another destination," Weiner said.

While hotels and airlines generally benefit from any increase in travel, other parts of the tourism industry are hurt or helped by changing visitor demographics and trends.

As Japan's population ages, the number of higher-spending younger women decline, hurting retailers in Hawai'i, Weiner said.

Repeat travel by Japanese doesn't usually benefit attractions, which are usually favored by first-time visitors. But the Neighbor Islands benefit if the second- and third-time visitors venture out beyond O'ahu.

Weiner said increasing Japanese travel to the Neighbor Islands is in Dentsu Inc.'s long-term plans. The Hawai'i Tourism Authority hired Dentsu to market Hawai'i to Japan, replacing the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau.