By Allan Seiden
With Hawaii’s two long-established interisland airlines, Hawaiian and Aloha, having recently exited bankruptcy, their efforts at financial recovery are being made more challenging by a combination of circumstances playing out in the Hawaii marketplace.
High fuel costs have already eaten the savings generated by bankruptcy-generated employee concessions at a time when the interisland market continues to shrink, as direct flights link a growing number of mainland cities with individual islands, eliminating an interisland connection through Honolulu for many visitors.
For example, US Airways will operate daily service between Phoenix and Kauai, May 1 through Sept. 6.
Although Aloha and Hawaiian each have played a role in growing that market, recapturing some of their lost interisland passengers in the process, they now face additional competition from two sources: the established Island Air and a newcomer.
The newcomer is fast-growing and profitable, Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, a potential low-cost spoiler in an interisland market that has long had a hard time proving profitable for just two carriers.
Over the years, other startups, such as Mahalo, Discovery and Mid-Pacific, have tried and failed, ultimately undone by the high cost of operating short flights and by fare wars that put market share above profitability.
Mesa’s new carrier is scheduled for a June 9 inaugural under the name Go. A full flight schedule of 31 daily roundtrips, aboard 50-passenger CRJ-200 jets, between Honolulu and Kona, Hilo, Lihue, and Kahului is planned by the end of the month.
Make your flight arrangements at Travel-Hawaii.
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