Saying the state's visitor industry faces the biggest potential tourism crisis since Sept. 11, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority yesterday pushed forward with plans to try to boost visitor demand in the islands in the aftermath of two major airline shutdowns last week.

In an immediate response to the sudden shutdown of ATA and Aloha airlines, the state tourism agency has spent $500,000 so far to help fly ATA and Aloha airlines' stranded passengers home, said Rex Johnson, HTA president and chief executive officer.

He praised the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, Hawaiian Airlines, Panda Travel and United Airlines and others in the industry for moving quickly to help coordinate the response to reduce the risk to the state's reputation as a premier visitor destination.

Faced with the possibility of more than 9,000 travelers stranded on both sides of the Pacific route, the HTA last week took the unusual step of authorizing up to $5 million in emergency funds to subsidize getting travelers home.

The HTA chartered nine one-way flights and flew about 2,200 passengers to and from the Mainland, he said. That meant the state subsidy worked out to about $230 a ticket. The passengers' share varied, but averaged around $200 a ticket.

Johnson said the initial figures indicated the special flights carried 1,547 people out of Hawai'i and brought 664 back here from the Mainland.

With empty seats now showing up on some flights, Johnson said, "we figure that the worst is over."

Four of the charters were flown by Hawaiian Airlines, three arranged through Panda Travel and two by United Airlines.

Johnson said the response helped ease a bad situation. "They put the state of Hawai'i in a pretty decent light," he said.

Yesterday's meeting was the first regularly scheduled one since the two airlines went out of business.

But various board members and industry officials warned that the industry must continue to respond quickly or face a growing problem.

Johnson agreed that the situation is serious. "We have essentially lost about a million North American seats" or roughly 15 percent of the airline seats that were available to the West Coast.

He said the marketplace is beginning to respond, with Hawaiian Airlines adding an Oakland flight but shifting one out of San Diego to do it.

Board member Kelvin Bloom, who is president of ResortQuest Hawai'i, said he didn't want to be "an alarmist" but was looking at news of the dropping stock price of Mesa and wondering how long go! airlines would continue flying interisland. He said "go! may be gone."

With airfare increasing as the supply shrinks, he said hotels are seeing some travelers canceling their reservation.

Cheryl Willliams, regional director of sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawai'i, said the short-term number of cancellations is "not that bad." But she's concerned about a slowdown in the pace of people booking for the months ahead including the summer.

She said travelers are potentially spooked by the prospect of paying double or triple the airfare they had earlier anticipated. "I think it will be more of a long-term effect."

Board member John Toner spoke in favor of the board acting quickly: "I do think this is a crisis." While the two airline failures didn't have the immediate impact of Sept. 11, he said, the situation is serious.

Toner described it as a "wake-up call" for the industry to act now: "We should make sure we are promoting the hell out of this destination."

John Monahan, president of the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, said airlines are looking to stay in business and will follow the demand.

If other regional carriers go out of business, such as Frontier in Denver, he said, larger carriers such as United might also shift planes there, which could further tighten the air availability to Hawai'i.

Frontier today announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but plans to continue normal business operations throughout its reorganization.

The low-fare carrier said the move came after an unexpected attempt by its principal credit card processor to start withholding significant proceeds from the sale of Frontier tickets, which threatened to hurt Frontier's liquidity.

Frontier CEO Sean Menke said the airline has been affected as other airlines have by rising fuel costs and the credit crisis in financial markets.

Monahan, of the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, said the industry needs to quickly address the issues, with marketing and a plan: "It's something we've got to respond to quickly."