04-23-2015, 12:53 PM
United is the only mainland carrier that comes to Hilo and only from LAX. And its a miracle we have that one flight. Last I looked they came 6 days per week.
My guess is that United will drop the Hilo flight eventually. Cities without a minimum of many 3 star hotels plus at least a few 4+ star typically don't attract airlines. People fly to places where they want to stay. No good hotels = no flight service. Hilo doesn't have any resort hotels and that was by design.
The ironic thing is all the "touristy" things to do on this island are on the east side and all the resorts are on the west. So people fly in and out of Kona, stay there, dump an insane amount of money, and get bused or helicoptered to our east side waterfalls, volcano, and other sights because nobody would let the big chains build resorts here. Keep it local they said. Now locals ride the bus 5 hours a day to go work at Kona resorts and back.
My guess is that United will drop the Hilo flight eventually. Cities without a minimum of many 3 star hotels plus at least a few 4+ star typically don't attract airlines. People fly to places where they want to stay. No good hotels = no flight service. Hilo doesn't have any resort hotels and that was by design.
The ironic thing is all the "touristy" things to do on this island are on the east side and all the resorts are on the west. So people fly in and out of Kona, stay there, dump an insane amount of money, and get bused or helicoptered to our east side waterfalls, volcano, and other sights because nobody would let the big chains build resorts here. Keep it local they said. Now locals ride the bus 5 hours a day to go work at Kona resorts and back.