Airlines add Hawai'i-bound seats
Advertiser Staff
Delta Air Lines and US Airways have added nearly 7,000 air seats a week to Hawai'i to keep up with the strong demand from Mainland visitors traveling to the Islands.
Delta last week launched daily nonstop service from Atlanta to Maui, and Atlanta to Kona via Salt Lake City. The Boeing 767-400 aircraft flown by Delta can seat 285 passengers, giving the airline an additional 3,990 seats a week to Hawai'i.
US Airways, which recently merged with America West, began daily nonstop flights last week from its Phoenix hub to Honolulu and from Phoenix to Maui. The airlines' Boeing 757-200 aircraft has a capacity of 190 passengers, providing 2,660 more seats a week to the Islands.
The seats are being added as the state closes in on a record year for visitor arrivals. Some 7.4 million visitors are expected this year, surpassing the previous record of of 6.99 million visitors last year. The tourism industry is having an exceptionally strong December, with Mainland visitor arrivals running about 10 percent above last year.
America West flew from Phoenix to Hawai'i (and then on to Japan) between 1989 and 1993 using Boeing 747s.
It abandoned the route during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
Doug Parker, chief executive officer of US Airways, said expectations are high for the new Hawai'i routes.
In the airlines' quarterly earnings conference call last month Parker noted that the airline will be using smaller, easier-to-fill 757 aircraft, which has about half as many seats as a 747.
US Airways says its huge route network on the East Coast will give it a much bigger pool of connecting passengers to draw from for its nonstop Hawai'i flights.
The plane isn't the only thing that changed.
US Airways officials say the Hawai'i travel market has changed considerably, according to a report in the Arizona Republic.
Where Hawai'i once was a dream spot for milestone occasions such as honeymoons and anniversaries, it is now regarded by many travelers, especially in the West, as a regular vacation spot, Scott Kirby US Airways' executive vice president of sales and marketing told the Republic.
