12-27-2014, 10:01 AM
A series of bankruptcies and mergers over the last 12 years have taken us from 10 major airlines down to four. Locally Mesa drove Aloha Airlines out of business and then later pulled out (under the Go! name) leaving no real competition to Hawaiian. Hawaiian cleverly filled that void by entering into an arrangement with Empire Airlines to fly under the Ohana name so that they can keep their market share but not have to pay the pilots or flight crews union wages. Island Air bought a fleet of aircraft with maintenance problems and they had to pull out of the Big Island. With only four major airlines dictating fares there won't be any major movement on prices regardless of the price of oil. The Big Four are using this sudden river of cash to put in purchase orders for more fuel efficient aircraft and pay the shareholders dividends. They know the price of oil is going back up and they are using it to show profit and invest in the future.
It's not all bad news. Southwest Airlines has recently certified a fleet of 737-800 aircraft and crew for ETOPS over water service and has identified all of the major Hawaiian islands as targets for expansion. Island Air has been quietly mulling returning to the Big Island, and the time you see new startups of discount carriers and expanded services from the minor leagues is when they see an opportunity. Like when the price of fuel is low but everybody is still charging high fuel air fares.
It's not all bad news. Southwest Airlines has recently certified a fleet of 737-800 aircraft and crew for ETOPS over water service and has identified all of the major Hawaiian islands as targets for expansion. Island Air has been quietly mulling returning to the Big Island, and the time you see new startups of discount carriers and expanded services from the minor leagues is when they see an opportunity. Like when the price of fuel is low but everybody is still charging high fuel air fares.