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I just (yesterday) booked flights on Hawaiian from Hilo to Honolulu and they were $43.each way All airlines were similarly priced. I was booking over one month in advance.
I wanted to try Moukelele but they did not have early enough flights for me, so I went with Hawaiian.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
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The decrease in traffic as I understand came in the late 70's/early 80's when Hilo increased landing fees exponentially over what they had been once they were approved for international status. I believe United gave them the what for - (remember United at that time had a direct LA-Hilo flight).
I may be wrong but Hilo stayed without any inter-state until ATA came in with Oakland/Hilo a few years ago - and now as we know gone.
Any thoughts any one on downgrading ITO from an "international" airport to a regional airport? Does anyone have any ideas on what savings that would bring?
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Posts: 4,925
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quote:
Originally posted by Kapohocat
The decrease in traffic as I understand came in the late 70's/early 80's when Hilo increased landing fees exponentially over what they had been once they were approved for international status. I believe United gave them the what for - (remember United at that time had a direct LA-Hilo flight).
I may be wrong but Hilo stayed without any inter-state until ATA came in with Oakland/Hilo a few years ago - and now as we know gone.
Any thoughts any one on downgrading ITO from an "international" airport to a regional airport? Does anyone have any ideas on what savings that would bring?
It wouldn't bring any cost savings because it is just a name.It was renamed Hilo International by the legislature in 1989 two years after the last direct mainland flight left.Many airlines flew into Hilo from 1967 until 1987,including the one I worked for,Western Airlines" The Only Way To Fly".
The flights all moved to Kona after that airport was expanded and Kona became the main tourist destination.
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Could the drop in flights to Hilo have something to do with the size of planes being used to the mainland now? I was under the impression that Kona was preferrable for the big airlines because Kona has 11,000 ft. runway, and Hilo is only 9,800. I think the largest planes need 9500-11000 ft. to take off, depending on load. Also, seems planes need to make a wild turn just prior to landing at Hilo.
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Hilo could be served by 757 and 737 aircraft like ATA flew.I don't think it could ever support wide body service.
The runway at Kahului is shorter than Hilo's and wide bodies land there.
I don't think you will be seeing another direct flight from the mainland to Hilo because of the cost factor.
Most of the major airlines lose money flying to Hawaii and only fly here to have somewhere their best customers can use their frequent flier miles.
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Obie is right about the economics of flying to Hawaii. When I lived in Atlanta, I had a friend who worked in revenue management for Delta. He knew I was traveling to Hawaii a lot and told me that they had a lot of "non-revenue" traffic on all their Hawaii routes. This would include frequent flyers on awards and employees on passes. He went on to say that a very high percentage of Delta's paid traffic to Hawaii was leisure-oriented, and that they sold very few paid first class or full-fare coach class tickets for profitable business travel.
As far as the main runway at Hilo is concerned, it can indeed handle wide-body jets. FedEx has landed MD-11s there for years, and I think a 747 version of Air Force One even landed in Hilo not too many years ago.
Cheers,
Jerry
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Kona was smart enough to move the airport out of town, as have most all cities with any degree of sensible planning. Hilo choose instead to increase the investment in a city location which is in a tsunami zone and subjects the town to risk of crashes and plenty of noise for years.
I wonder who was the source of that bad decision. A smarter place for the airport would have been in Keaau.
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Airports need to be low elevation, low temperature, high humidity to get large modern high efficiency heavy lift planes off the ground reliably. This is part of the mix. The Hilo Airport is probably the most important airport in the Pacific. It's there for a reason. It's right where it needs to be.
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Jay, that sounds rather silly. the altitude difference accounts for Hilo Airports location? really? 500 feet of altitude? You'd think planes couldn't lift off in Denver much less achieve altitudes of 30,000 plus feet.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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