Hawai'i's economy and tourism industry may be hurting, but local airlines and the Superferry are bracing for a busy Thanksgiving weekend.

Hawaiian Airlines will have extra agents at its ticket counters, the state has opened more parking lots at Honolulu International Airport, and Hawaii Superferry added second trips between O'ahu and Maui for today and Sunday.

"No matter what the numbers leading up, you always see a steep spike in travel the day before Thanksgiving," said Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner. "The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is always big, and so is the following Sunday. Without getting into specific numbers, travel is up on all our routes over the holidays."

Bill Boyer, owner of Mokulele Airlines, said that bookings and traffic on its Web site have increased dramatically since the airline announced it would add interisland flights starting Nov. 19.

"We have a 40 percent increase in bookings for the Thanksgiving weekend," he said. "Web traffic has increased sixfold since the beginning of November."

Superferry officials said they are headed for a record weekend, with more than 6,000 expected to take the ship. Today's initial voyages between O'ahu and Maui were nearly sold out, so a second pair of voyages was added, spokeswoman Brooke Wilson said.

"Right now, the traffic looks like it will be higher over this holiday weekend than it was for the 4th of July, and that was packed," Wilson said. "We're really getting a great response from upping the number of free bags walk-on passengers carry on from two to four."

OTHERWISE, IT'S FLAT

This weekend will be busy, but the long-term picture is not as bright.

"In September and October, we had our best months since we started in 2006," said Paul Skellon, vice president of corporate communications for go! airline. "So far this month, our numbers are flat compared to last year, so maybe you take that as a sign the economy is starting to impact the interisland market."

Skellon said competitive pricing helps boost travel. Calling the Hawai'i market "price sensitive," he said passengers have "gobbled up" holiday fares that have all three interisland airlines offering limited $45 one-way tickets.

"The amount of interisland travel has been stimulated by having a competitive market," he said. "We're the price leader, and everyone matches us. Regardless of what airline they take, people have saved hundreds of millions of dollars over the past few years because they have options to choose from."

Wagner said travel between Hawai'i and the Mainland remains down, so Hawaiian is offering several one-way fares for less than $300 to and from the West Coast in an attempt to boost those numbers.

"Las Vegas doesn't vary much," he said, "but you can get some great deals to the West Coast on our Web site."