Posted on: Friday, January 16, 2004

Hawaiian Airlines touts planned flights to Sydney

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaiian Airlines wants to start flying to Sydney, Australia, on May 17 and generate 34,000 more visitors annually to the Islands, the airline said yesterday.

Hawaiian wants to make four initial flights per week on its Boeing 767-300 jets, pending U.S. and Australian approvals, and would join Qantas and Air Canada in providing service between Honolulu and Australia.

At a press conference in her offices yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle was joined by Hawai'i tourism officials in praising Hawaiian's plans.

"It's always exciting when we can talk about new capacity coming into the state and the potential for a larger number of visitors," Lingle said.

Lingle cited a dramatic decline in Australian visitors — from 237,000 in 1990 to 92,000 in 2002.

The drop was largely the result of Mainland carriers flying nonstop between Australia and the West Coast and bypassing Hawai'i, Hawaiian officials said.

Hawaiian president and CEO Mark Dunkerley, who presented Lingle with a stuffed kangaroo doll, said Australia's improved exchange rate of 78 U.S. cents per Australian dollar gives Australian tourists more buying clout and makes Honolulu particularly attractive.

Hawaiian's plans would generate $42 million in visitor spending, translating into $3.5 million in tax revenues, Dunkerley said.

"We believe this is the beginning of a growing market," Dunkerley said.

Lingle, who served as Maui mayor, said she particularly liked Hawaiian's plans to bring Australian tourists to Honolulu by lunchtime, which would avoid an overnight stay in Honolulu before they could travel on to the Neighbor Islands.

The 10-hour, nonstop flights would leave Sydney on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 9:30 p.m. and arrive in Honolulu the same day at 10:55 a.m. They would leave Honolulu on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and arrive the following day in Sydney at 7:30 p.m.

Dunkerley said that ticket prices would be competitive.

Hawaiian filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection in March. Dunkerley did not say how Hawaiian's unionized employees — who had made wage and other concessions to try to avoid bankruptcy — would be affected by the new routes.

Any such changes, Dunkerley said, would be part of the airline's overall restructuring process.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.