Traveling Interisland in the Wake of Aloha Airlines’ Closure

More than a week since Aloha Airlines shut down their passenger service, interisland air fares are beginning to spike up in the wake of the closure. So far, the lowest advertised airfare is Go! airlines $49 one-way interisland fare, which is still available on many of their flights. Hawaiian Airlines has raised the price on many flights but if you make a reservation and are not too picky about travel days and times, there may be a few $49 seats available on that airline.

Experts in the travel industry continue to forecast higher interisland airfares. And while I don’t like any of those forecasts, I believe that they are correct. In time by the end of the summer for sure if not even before, I predict interisland air fare will be at $79 or $89 each way on the low end, though more common will be airfares of $100 or more. Deja Vu, it will be 2004 again.

Travelers coming to Hawaii and residents going to the mainland have suddenly found a shortage of seats to several destinations. While Aloha Airlines had a small percentage of mainland flights, the closure last week of ATA Airlines, only a few days after the Aloha shutdown, have many travelers scrambling to find new flights and change their reservations, often having to buy more expensive tickets. Some of the airlines have quickly filled the void, most notably, Hawaiian. Prices to and from the mainland have spiked more dramatically in the past week than interisland for now.

Industry forecaster predict that mainland to Hawaii travel prices will settle down after this week’s adjustments.

For people traveling to and from Maui between now and June, the Hawaii Superferry is offering $39 trips each way, per passenger. The cost is $55 for a standard sized vehicle. The superferry resumed service today after having their vessel tied up in dry dock for several repairs over the last 2 months. I hope Superferry’s technical problems are behind them and hope that they can provide reliable service in the coming months.

Finally a group known as “Friends for Aloha Airlines” recently put together a 30-second video tribute to the fallen carrier which have been airing on a number of local TV stations from last week. The video is shown below: