When go! buzzed into the islands with rock-bottom fares, inter-island dogfights kept prices low to the delight of locals and tourists alike. Fares have fallen from an average of nearly $200 round trip to $50-$80 round trip as the cozy duopoly of Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines has given way to a ménage à capitalism.
Before starting operations, go!'s parent company, Mesa Air, considered buying both Hawaiian and Aloha out of bankruptcy, going so far as to examine confidential business documents from the carriers. When Mesa decided to go its own way and launch an all-new airline, Hawaiian got mega-miffed and sued. The court case ended with a judge awarding Hawaiian $80 million in damages.
It's such a hit that go! might be forced to shut down. The big loser in all this? Clearly travelers, as you can expect fares to skyrocket once go! flies off. The next stop for the case is US District Court for an appeal.
We didn't have to wait too long for Richard Branson to get Virgin America's newest route running: Just weeks after his airline debuted with a JFK-SFO trip, service will start between JFK and LAX today.
Money exchanged for goods and services is an established custom in these United States. When we go to a restaurant, for example, we expect to order, receive, consume, and pay for a meal in a timely fashion. Yet airlines seem to think, more and more, that following through on a pre-paid service is optional. A recent CNN story reports that flight delays in 2007 are the worst on record. The article states:
Of the roughly three million flights between January and May, about 73 .6 percent were on time, the government reported, down from 77.4 percent last year. That marks the lowest on-time percentage for the same period since the government began tracking the numbers in 1995.
Part of those delays were due to a sharp increase in the number of canceled flights. During that period, cancellations soared 79 percent, to 75,925, from the same period a year ago.
Hawaiian Airlines did the best job of getting its customers to their destination on time, while US Airways fared the worst. From experience, we think flying US Air is about as masochistic as attending Live Earth in South Africa.
Holy coconuts! Upstart interisland carrier go! has done it again. On June 11 they offered a surprise one-year anniversary gift to 1,000 lucky travelers -- $1 o/w fares on interisland flights around the islands. Double your pleasure and you get to fly these short-hop routes for a mere $2. Would you like to have your Kahului latte at Starbucks -- or actually fly to Kahului? The latter is the cheaper choice. This compares to $100 o/w fares that were common before go! crashed the market, a shockingly high tariff for a 30-minute hop. Alas, the one-day bonanza crashed servers as a stampede of customers sought to take advantage of the insane deal.
That said, don't expect that go! won't pull another stunt like this again. The aggressive upstart, a subsidiary of Mesa Airlines, has deep pockets compared to rival carriers, incumbents Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Air. And Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein appears to be willing to do whatever it takes to force the other guys off the tarmac. Stay tuned, island hoppers! More fare wars in paradise to come!
Ever since upstart airline go! entered the interisland market in Hawaii and challenged the incumbent carriers Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Air, the price wars have been fast and furious. Island-hopping travelers and locals who had been ponying up nearly $200 for round trip tix suddenly were paying $60 for the same routes. go! lowered the bar yet again today when it announced it would sell inter-island seats for a mere $9. Natch, these puppies sold out really quickly. But travelers should keep in mind that go! is going for the jugular with Hawaiian and Aloha (neither of which are as well capitalized as go!, a Mesa Airlines subsidiary). You should watch for similarly low, low, brutally low fares to sally forth again.
Hawaiian Airlines finds itself in a bit of a bind this week, amid charges that it unfairly plays favorites. The accuser is the governor of American Samoa, and the supposedly favored? That would be the Oakland Raiders. It sounds like a strange rivalry, but both compete for service from Hawaiian's planes. Hawaiian's 5 1/2-hour flight is the only scheduled commercial link between the U.S. and American Samoa, and the governor is trying to replace them.
He alleges that the airline casually pushes its Samoan passengers aside whenever the Oakland Raiders beckon. Several flights between Honolulu and Pago Pago, American Samoa, have been rescheduled recently, and Governor Togiola Tulafono thinks the plane was yanked to meet the charter needs of the football team, making American Samoa the sacrificial lamb to the Raiders' holy endeavors. He complained of the inconvenience on his weekly radio program, lamenting the fact that travelers heading for the States already have no choice but to pay for Hawaiian's expensive tickets.
Hawaiian denies any intentional wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the governor is searching for a new carrier--possibly United--to service his market.
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by ASalkever
