Kapalua, Molokai and Lanai airports are "absolutely all on the list"
of places Hawaiian Airlines is considering to fly as it takes its first
steps in the process of forming a subsidiary airline, a Hawaiian
official said Tuesday.
Hawaiian's parent company, Hawaiian
Holdings, has signed a letter of intent to acquire turbo-prop aircraft
"with the aim of establishing a subsidiary carrier to serve routes not
currently in Hawaiian's Neighbor Island system," a news release from the
company said. This would include expanding capacity with daily flights
into rural areas.
Peter Ingram, Hawaiian's executive vice
president and chief commercial officer, said that the letter of intent,
which is not contractually binding, is a "first step" in the process.
Due to the nature of the negotiations and confidentiality agreements,
Ingram could not give many details but did say that the aircraft the
airline is eyeing is a "sub-50 seater."
Hawaiian's current fleet
of Boeing 717-200s, with 123 passenger capacity, flies in and out of the
major airports in Hawaii but cannot serve some of the smaller airports,
he said.
When asked if Kapalua, Molokai and Lanai airports would
be served by the planned subsidiary airline, Ingram said: "Those three
are definitely the places we are considering operating out of. . . .
Those are absolutely all on the list."
Ingram said nothing is firm at the moment; he said it is too early to talk about when the subsidiary will be up and flying.
Hawaiian's
intent to begin the formation of a subsidiary airline was part of a
news release about a new fare structure for Neighbor Island travel,
which lowers ticket prices across all fare classes from 4 to 25 percent.
The
lowest fare for a one-way, nonstop ticket (including taxes and
mandatory federal fees) is $65 for travel from Honolulu to Kahului and
Lihue. The three lowest fares from Honolulu to Kahului, Lihue, Hilo and
Kona are all lower than previously published Web fares.
Some fare highlights:
* Kahului-Honolulu, $65 (a new fare), $73 (down from $80.30) and $79 (down from $88.30).
* Kahului-Hilo, $78 (new), $90 ($97.30), $99 ($106.30).
* Kahului-Kona, $79 (new), $91 ($97.30), $100 ($106.30).
* Kahului-Lihue, $85 (new), $98 ($97.30), $104 ($106.30).
The
new fare structure compliments the 13 percent increase in Neighbor
Island flight capacity for the airline over the past year. This included
the creation of a Maui hub to increase service between Maui, Kauai and
the Big Island.
"We are pleased with what we are seeing now" with the Maui hub, said Ingram.
They
have tinkered a bit with the times to accommodate passengers' flying
schedules since the hub concept at Kahului Airport began in January.
It's
also been "a positive development" for Maui, providing more
opportunities to bring visitors to the island, which is good for the
hotel industry and the island economy in general, he said.
Passenger
surveys indicated that they would fly more if there were greater
availability of fares, Ingram said. With that in mind, the airline has
been experimenting with lower fares to see if that would stimulate
demand during less full flight periods, he said. The airline has offered
the "Hawaiian Saver" fare sales, which has some restrictions, over the
last several months.
Encouraged by results, the airline developed the idea of "readjusting the entire Neighbor Island price structure," he said.
"By
offering a greater variety of pricing options across our flight
schedule every day, we hope to make it easier for people to take the
extra trip they might not have taken if the lower fares weren't
available," Ingram said.
Early returns on the new fare structure, which went into effect Tuesday, "are quite positive," he said.
The airline was selling twice as many tickets Tuesday than a normal Tuesday in July, he reported.
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