Maui Log

In response to a projected decline in visitors to Hawaii in 2008 the Hawaii Tourism Authority has approved $3 million in additional funds to market the state on the mainland.

HTA estimates a potential 11% drop in visitors to the Islands in 2008 from the 2007 total of 7.4 million.

The shutdowns of Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines has removed over a million seats per year from North America to Hawaii. The resulting higher ticket prices are causing potential visitors to look elsewhere.

The $3 million allocated by the HTA, along with another $1.5 million from Hawaii hotels will be directed towards increasing air passenger traffic from the mainland to Hawaii.

Whether this will be a marketing campaign designed to increase demand or subsidies to airlines to increase capacity wasn’t clear to us.

In any case Hawaii is facing stiff competition from other tourist destinations. We’ve noticed out on the west coast Mexico’s resort areas are advertising heavily and offering steeply discounted rates to attract visitors.

Island Air Expands to Nebraska - Hawaii Island Air has been selected by the Department of Transportation to provide essential air service between Kearney Nebraska and Kansas City. They’ll replace Mesa Airlines. (As our savvy readers know, that’s the parent of Hawaii’s Go! Airline) The service will be subsidised by the federal government for two years. Photo credit: Island Air

Aloha Cargo Flying Again - Pacific Business News reports that Aloha Cargo is back in business after being purchased by Seattle based Saltchuk Resources for 10.5 million. GMAC, Aloha’s current lender, had rejected a bid of over 13 million just last week which in turn forced the airline to shutdown. Sounds like somebody got their wires crossed. By the way Saltchuk Resources also owns Young Brothers and Hawaii Tug and Barge, the major players in Hawaii’s interisland shipping market. The word “monopoly” comes to mind.

VOG Casts Haze Over Islands - The Associated Press is reporting that a new vent has opened up on the Big Islands Kilaue volcano and is spewing twice the normal amount of toxic sulfer dioxide into the air. The volcanic smog has even clouded the air over Honolulu.

Superferry’s Second Oahu to Maui Trip Still on Schedule - Hawaii Superferry’s website still shows a second Oahu to Maui trip beginning on May 9th and operating on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I know, this is not new, but the way these folks flip flop it seemed worth mentioning.

NCL’s Pride of Aloha Leaving Hawaii this Week - Pacific Business News reports that NCL’s Pride of Aloha is headed for Miami this week and will be re-flagged, once again, as Norwegian Sky. Pride of Aloha joins Pride of Hawaii in departing the Islands. This leaves Pride of America as NCL’s only remaining Hawaii cruise ship. Looks like NCL’s experiment of using US flagged vessels has just about come to an end.

This ship has quite an interesting history. She started life as the Costa Olympia… well click on the link and read it for yourself.

and finally….

Sizzling Elisha Hots Up Hawaii - At least that’s the headline in Britain’s Sun newspaper. Evidently “24″ star Elisha Cuthbert has been seen splashing in the waves off Wailea and anyone with a camera is tripping over themselves to get a picture.

The sad tale of Aloha Airlines continued on Monday with the announcement that it’s profitable cargo division has been shutdown.

Reportedly, Aloha Cargo’s principle financier, GMAC, decided not to provide further credit when Jupiter Holding Group, the high bidder for the cargo division, backed out of the bidding. Jupiter Holding Group, which had bid $13.65 million, said it backed out because the asking price had been raised to $15 million.

The move left officials scrambling to find alternative means of shipping the state’s air cargo and mail. Aloha transported 85 percent of Hawaii’s interisland air cargo and all mail from Maui and the Big Island.

Love’s Bakery, which shipped 36,000 pounds of goods daily on Aloha Cargo, managed to get it’s shipment to the Big Island by sending it to LA on Delta Airlines and putting it on a Kona bound plane there. It had already begun shipping to Maui on the Superferry.

Only last week the Airline Pilots Association threated to file suit against Aloha Cargo over which of Aloha’s pilots would fly the cargo runs. Aloha wanted to continue using the current cargo pilots, while the APA demanded that seniority be used to pick them.

At this point it looks like Aloha is flying off into the sunset for good.

Back in February Popular Photography Magazine announced the “Magical Maui, How Bad Do You Want It” photo contest. Readers were invited to submit one photo (enhanced or not) that best expressed just how much they wanted to get to Maui. The prize, well you guessed it, a trip for two to Magical Maui. And the winner is!

Thanks to Sheila at govisithawaii.com for bringing the contest to our attention.

Photo Credit: Steve Froebe/Popular Photography Magazine

According to Pacific Business News Hawaii Superferry has named retired U.S. Navy Admiral Thomas Fargo as its new CEO. He replaces former CEO John Garibaldi as of Monday. Garibaldi will continue to serve on the board of directors and as vice chairman of the corporation.

Admiral Fargo is currently managing director of J.F. Lehman & Co., a major investor in the Superferry. John F. Lehman, the founder of the company and former Secratary of the Navy serves as chairman of the Superferry’s board of directors.

There’s an interesting ongoing discussion of J.F. Lehman & Co. and the Superferry over on the KauaiEclectic blog. Joan Conrow, the blogs author, has been making the case that the Superferry is really a test vehicle for a new class of navy fighting ship.

Now, I have to admit, that up till today I have been getting a good chuckle out of this conspiracy theory discussion. (Hey, it’s just a ferry trying to make a living!) Now I’m beginning to wonder. Anyway, check out Joan’s blog, there’s bound to be an interesting discussion of all these new Superferry developments.

Picture credit: Hawaii Superferry - Now just a minute, how did they know all those seats were going to be empty?

KGMB television reports that the flight crew of a Go! Airlines interisland flight fell asleep during a flight between Honolulu and Hilo. The February 13th flight overshot the Hilo airport by 15 miles before the plane was turned around and landed safely. Both pilots were fired by the airline for not immediatly reporting the incident.

KGMB’s story on the incident.

Pacific Business News reports that Hawaii hotel occupancy is up 4.3 percent to 72.6 percent as compared to the same week last year. Maui leads the way with the best showing of a 5 percent increase in hotel occupancy to 75.3 percent. The average room rate on Maui declined 8.2 percent to “only” $281 per night.

Pacific Business News Article

Hawaii Superferry is adding a second Maui trip starting May 9th. The afternoon sailing will operate Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The second trip will benefit commercial customers who want more flexibility in reaching markets according to Superferry President and CEO John Garibaldi.

Currently the Superferry leaves Honolulu at 6:30 AM each day and arrives in Maui at 9:30 a.m. The return trip arrives back in Honolulu at 2 PM.

The second voyage would leave Honolulu at 3:30 PM and arrive in Maui at 7 PM, returning back to Honolulu at 11 PM. The second sailing must be approved by the state Public Utilities Commission.

Superferry officials report that advanced bookings have “been very strong” since resumption of ferry service March 27.

Superferry promotional fares of $39 per person one-way and $55 one-way for passenger vehicles have been extend through June 5.

Superferry Website

EagleRider has announced the opening of its first motorcycle and scooter rental location on Maui. The new EagleRider location is positioned inside Advantage Rent a Car’s Kahului airport location.

“Maui is the ideal place for an EagleRider rental location,” said General Manager, Herb Aust. “With the great touring routes, the incredible views, and fantastic weather — it doesn’t get much better! Whether it’s a Jeep rental from our partner Advantage Rent a Car, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, or a scooter we offer any lifestyle rental vehicle to fit tourists’ needs in Maui.”

EagleRider Website

The recently announced merger deal between Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines is likely to put more pressure on Hawaii air capacity.

Delta currently offers seven daily round trips to the islands, five to Oahu and two to Maui.  Northwest operates six flights daily from the US mainland to Oahu.

It is expected the merged airlines will try to trim $1 billion yearly from operating costs.  This likely means flights will be eliminated on duplicate routes.

Both Northwest and Delta offer west coast service from Los Angeles and San Francisco.  The likely reduction in the number of flights will mean a further loss of seating capacity to the islands.   The recent shutdowns of ATA and Aloha airlines has already pulled thousands of seats from this market.

For now problems with the pilots and machinists unions are likely to delay the deal.   But, the handwriting seems to be on the wall, merge or die.

So, it seems likely that sooner or later it’s goodbye to those low low west coast airfares to the islands.  Well there’s always Mexico.