Beginning Oct. 1 Delta Air Lines will resume several flights to Hawai'i that were canceled earlier in the year.

The flights from Los Angeles to Kaua'i and the Big Island, and from Atlanta to Honolulu, will result in an 8 percent year-over-year increase in Delta's Hawai'i schedules.

The flights are being reinstated because of increased demand, said John Monahan, president and chief executive officer of the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau.

The airline industry is continuing to adjust to market forces following the closure of Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines earlier this year that reduced the number of seats to Hawai'i by about 15 percent.

Monahan said the reduction in seats helped correct an overcapacity problem on flights between Hawai'i and the Mainland. The departure of Aloha and ATA created a misperception that there was a shortage of air seats to Hawai'i, he said.

"There were ample seats on flights from the U.S. Mainland to Hawai'i during summer and the same is true going forward into the fall," Monahan said.

Airline schedule data provided by Sabre Airport Consulting Services, a leading airline industry research firm, shows that transpacific capacity has remained stable in the five months since the two airlines shut down.

"That number carries even less impact because when those carriers were flying, there was an oversupply of capacity from the U.S. Mainland," Monahan Monahan said. "Getting to and from Hawaii is not an issue."

The HVCB also noted that Hawaiian Airlines, go! airlines, and Island Air have added service and aircraft to replace the interisland seats lost as a result of Aloha's closure, and Hawaiian Airlines plans to add 36 percent more seats to its fleet with the purchase of four more 123-passenger Boeing 717 aircraft.

The Delta flights will be introduced into service at the rate of one a month beginning Oct. 1.