"Everybody asks all of the time about air seats. It's the No. 1 question," said Marsha Wienert, the state's tourism liaison.

The number of airline seats from domestic locations to Hawai'i has increased sharply during the past two years, hitting a record 6.6 million in 2004.

Of the total forecast air seats, 1.8 million are expected to arrive from the Mainland, an 11 percent increase. Another 722,000 would come from international travel, a 16 percent jump.

The number of air seats originating from the Islands' top four visitor markets is expected to rise across the board. The U.S. West region is expected to grow 8.8 percent; U.S. East by 20 percent; Japan by 22.1 percent; and Canada by 18.8 percent.

The new forecasts are based on the number of expected airline seats, not the number of actual passengers.

But hotel, airline and tour wholesale bookings suggest that "February and March look to be phenomenal months," Wienert said. "April is too soon to tell.

"The (U.S.) economy's still doing well, they've got junk weather on the Mainland and there's still pent-up demand for travel," Wienert said. "So more people are traveling."

The forecasts will be available by the first full week of each month on the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism Web site at www2.hawaii.gov/dbedt/latest.

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