Aloha Airlines

[bgl]

Dave,

I agree that Southwest is probably extremely reluctant to take on Mainland-HI flights. They would have to feel that there's a very good opportunity. It would be a very big step for them, and usually they only take small steps, a few at a time. The problem they're faced with is that if they want to find a new code-sharing partner, the pickings are VERY slim. The only U.S. airline I can think of that's serving HI and does NOT have a mainland network to feed those flights is Hawaiian Airlines. Needless to say, it would be very much in Hawaiian's interest to encourage a codeshare with SW. 1) it would add passengers to Hawaiian's flights, and 2) it would keep SW out of the market. If, for some reason, such a codeshare is not to the liking of either potential partner, SW could either enter the market on its own, or simply forget about HI bound passengers. And I don't believe that Hawaii will lose but so many visitors. Yes, short term, it will have an impact, but over the next few months, existing carriers will add more flights, and who knows, maybe a new entrant will show up. Either way, if there's a demand, that demand will certainly be met!

The article is interesting, even though (IMO) a bit too gloomy. One example is the very end:

"There's more to come, said Aloha chief executive officer David Banmiller.

At a bankruptcy court hearing two days before ATA announced it was shutting down, Banmiller predicted further turmoil in the nation's airline industry.

"We just happen to be at the beginning," he said. "You haven't seen the end yet."

Banmiller is right about the turmoil, but he got the timing wrong. This is not the beginning. It's not even the end of the beginning. Turmoil has been part of the airline industry throughout its entire existence. Two more months and I will celebrate 48 years in the business, and one constant that I have been able to observe for these 48 years has been the continuous number of airline bankruptcies.

One more comment about Emirates: you're correct about Emirates being in a somewhat unusual situation, since Dubai (and UAE in general) has become a major destination in itself. A good comparison would be Singapore, with a population of about 2.5M and a very strong and well respected first class airline: Singapore Airlines. Emirates will certainly continue to grow, and be a very aggressive competitor worldwide. But their strength will increasingly be on what you mention: routes to smaller cities. If you happen to live in Newcastle (UK), or Barcelona, for instance, and you want to travel to secondary cities like Bangalore, Chennai or Perth, then Emirates will be hard to beat, because they will be able to get you to your destination with only ONE stop (Dubai). Those routes will primarily be served by their mediumsized widebodies (A350s, 777s). Their weakness, increasingly, will be on the major routes where they will have to deploy the large A380s; London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo for instance. That's where they're going to be facing non-stop competition from the carriers of those countries, while they - Emirates - will have to go via Dubai.

Bo-Göran

[LJG]

SW had opportunities to get into Mexico and passed. Since they are true point to point and not hub I doubt long haul HI flights are in the future even though they have some LA-Baltimore and others that are long too. Also, SW hedged their fuel cost years back and it has caught up to them. Once the darling they now too are having issues. In fact they offered ridiculous buyouts to employees for early retirement last year. An attempt to cut cost and ditch free-loading older employees (no offense to anyone) that do a few trips a month but still get all the benefits and take the best routes. - At least that is my take.

Capitalism will sort all this out. Demand will make sure of this.  

Bruce, when I was flying around AU there were only two airlines. Qantas and Ansett. If I remember correctly my friends I stayed with said these two use to use predatory tactics when others came in. They would work together to drop the bottom for  awhile, sink the competition, then raise the rates again.

[bgl]

Mesa Air Group (Arizona), which operates in Hawaii under the marketing name "Go Airlines" is currently involved in a legal dispute with Delta Air Lines. Delta wants to end an agreement with Mesa, whereby Mesa is operating 36 Embraer 145s for Delta on regional feeder flights. The potential loss of this contract is a BIG deal and Mesa has announced that if Delta is successful, then Mesa may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. If this were to happen, Mesa would in all likelihood continue to operate, operating regional feeder flights for United Air Lines and US Airways, BUT they would be forced to cut back on any money losing operations. Since they've been losing money in Hawaii from the very beginning, one of their first actions in a potential Chapter 11 situation would be to pull out of the inter-island market in Hawaii. That would leave Hawaiian Airlines in a unique monopoly situation!

So, anyone planning an inter-island flight here, it might be a good idea to stick with Hawaiian Airlines. And buying the ticket sooner rather than later. One thing is probably certain, no matter what happens with Mesa/Go Airlines: prices are NOT going to drop!!

[bgl]

A little update - Mesa Airlines, the parent of the 'go airlines' marketing scheme in Hawaii has announced that the 'go airlines' subsidiary lost $7.4M during the second quarter 2008 (compared to a loss of $3.7M in the same period in 2007). That's a lot of money for a subsidiary with only a handful of 50 seat CRJ jets. And since Mesa Airlines itself is not doing so great financially, the obvious question is "for how long will they continue to pour money into their money losing venture in Hawaii?" (and they will never be able to compete against Hawaiian's 717s with the CRJs, since the 717s are more than twice the size and thus much more economical to operate). Since Aloha is no longer operating passenger flights, I'll stick with Hawaiian Air for any future inter-island travel... (I was at Kona Airport yesterday, and it was interesting to see an Aloha Airlines 737 arrive and depart. Aloha still exists, but only as a cargo operator!).

And in a completely unrelated story, more and more airline passengers are now sending their baggage via the U.S. Post Office. Apparently, if you have excess baggage. this is MUCH cheaper!

[_Keith]

And in a completely unrelated story, more and more airline passengers are now sending their baggage via the U.S. Post Office. Apparently, if you have excess baggage. this is MUCH cheaper!

Actually, I have personally shipped stuff this way for trips on quite a few occaisions, except I use UPS. Beats the hell out of dealing with airlines, or traveling with a big load of luggage.

[kahili]

Bo-when I lived on West Maui, I used to fly the Cessnas over to Honolulu to hookup with a flight to the mainland. lt was a small airport in Kaanapali and while it was quicker than to have to drive over to Kahului to catch a Hawaiian Air or Aloha, it was also a better flight-they flew lower and you could see a lot more of the islands that you flew over. I think that I would use them to fly to Hilo as well. Do people still use them for interisland travel? By the way-that airport had a very small bar that the locals use to hang out at-the best Bloody Marys anywhere-sometimes we would go just to drink them and watch the planes. I know that they have since put in a larger airport in around there to accomodate direct flights to the mainland.

Wasn't there a third airline in the 80's/90's besides Aloha and Haw. Air-seems I remember a new one that was trying to get in the interisland market

When we lived on the Big Island-we could catch a direct flight on United from Hilo to LAX-is that still happening, and is it that everyone just wants to avoid LAX? We were flying on to the East coast-so no difference to us. We also exported cut flowers and foliage every week and those boxes all went on that United flight as well.

[bgl]

That third airline was Discovery Air, and they didn't last long. They began operations in Dec 1989 and folded in April 1991. They operated a handful of British Aerospace BAe146s (four engined high-wing jets with about 80 seats or so). United Air Lines pulled out of the Hilo to mainland market a long time ago, probably about 20 years ago, and then there was no non-stop service form Hilo to the mainland until a few years ago when ATA Airlines began flying Oakland-Hilo. But ATA went bankrupt earlier this year (shortly after Aloha's demise) and that was the end of non-stop service from Hilo to the mainland. There are a number of non-stops from Kona to the mainland though. Delta, American and United all operate there, and I believe Westjet flies from Vancouver to Kona.

The airline flying Cessnas between the islands is Pacific Wings. These are single-engined Cessna 208s with (I believe) 9 seats. And I believe they also operate into some of the smaller airports. I see them at Hilo Airport all the time. There's also Island Air, operating 37 seat twin engined DHC-8-100s between the islands.

And for airfreight to the mainland, FedEx now operates a daily MD-11 into Hilo every weekday.

[doubravsky]

Bo... glad to see your post. I checked out the two, and Island Air has some affordable Hilo-Honolulu flights... but on a limited basis. Nice to have another option...

[bgl]

An interesting development recently: Mesa Air Group (=Mesa Airlines), which operates in Hawaii under the 'go! airlines' name, was greatly responsible for Aloha Airlines' demise. Mesa/go offered rates that were completely unrealistic, like $9 and $19 for oneway tickets. Both Aloha and Hawaiian were forced to, at least partly, respond with lower rates as well. Aloha was the weaker of the two, and as we know, went out of business. After Aloha went out of business, Mesa Air Group tried to buy the Aloha Airlines name, with the intention of changing 'go! airlines' to 'Aloha Airlines'! A U.S. bankruptcy judge has now ruled that the company (Mesa) "has already done enough harm to the thousands of former Aloha employees who lost their jobs" and "While no cases have been found with comparable facts, it is difficult to imagine a court overlooking what Mesa has done and putting its stamp of approval on Mesa's subsidiary go! becoming Aloha" King (the judge) wrote in his ruling released late Thursday.

And for anyone planning a visit to the islands, it might be useful to know that Mokulele Airlines, which only operated smaller aircraft up until last year, now also operate jets from Honolulu to Lihue (Kauai), Kahului (Maui), Kona and Hilo. The jets are 70 seat Embraer 170s operated by Republic Airways/Shuttle America in Mokulele Airlines colors. ("Mokulele" incidentally is the Hawaiian word for "airplane"! And for those of you who are interested in languages, the word "Mokulele" is made up of the two words "moku" and "lele". "Moku" means "district, island, division, separation, etc." and "lele" means "to fly, jump, leap, hop, etc."

[DoomsDave]

So you're saying sell the house and buy a lot of it.  OK, gotta go.

Be careful . . . .

[epicure3]

I happened to be on Maui when all this happened. There were a lot of tourists stuck. I can't remember if other airlines such as Hawaiian and UA offered to help them out.