Monday is the last day to write letters of support for Hawaiian Airlines’ application to start a new direct Kona-Japan flight. Hawaiian is asking businesses and residents to write letters of support to the U. S. Department of Transportation, explaining why the USDOT should grant the route to Hawaiian Airlines.
Hawaiian Airlines has filed an application for a daily, direct flight between Haneda, Japan and Kona. It would depart from Kona at 5:50 p.m. from October through May and at 5:30 p.m. from November through April, arriving at Haneda at 10:00 p.m. the following day. The flight from Haneda to Kona would leave at 11:55 p.m. and arrive in Kona at 12:45 p.m. the same day.
The flight could bring an additional 294 people per day to Hawaii Island, providing a much-needed economic boost for hotels, restaurants, tour companies, rental vehicle companies, and activities around the island. In addition, it would provide easier access to Japan for Big Island residents. Local innkeepers and those who run activities have joined with Hawaiian Airlines in asking the Hawaii Island community to offer support. As Petra Wiesenbauer and John Tucker of Hale Makamae Bed & Breakfast in Puna said, “Any additional visitor to this island is a benefit to all of us.” They point out that more Japanese visitors who visit are taking time to explore more of the island, and take advantage of varied activities.
Hawaiian Airlines is in competition with several other carriers for this Haneda route, but those carriers would take the flight to other destinations on the mainland, not Kona.
Currently, Delta Airlines flies a direct route between Haneda and Detroit route on Sepember 30 and seeking permission to transfer the service from Detroit to Seattle. The DOT has invited other carriers to comment on Delta’s request and apply for the route allocation if it is reassigned.
Senator Daniel K. Inouye and Governor Neil Abercrombie are among the top public officials who have already expressed support, along with Mayor Billy Kenoi.
Please email your letter of support, addressed to Secretary Ray LaHood, to Ann Botticelli, Sr. VP, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, HAL by Monday, September 10, at 5 pm.
Ann’s email address is Ann.Botticelli@hawaiianair.com
Hawaiian Airlines will include the letters in their documentation for the U. S. Department of Transportation.
Fact Sheet and Sample Letter (provided by Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, to be customized to include your situation and rationale):
Fact Sheet
Proposed route
Daily:
Depart from Kona at 5:50 p.m. (Oct-May) and 5:30 p.m. (Nov.-April).
Arrive at Haneda at 10:00 p.m. the following day.
Depart from Haneda at 11:55 p.m.
Arrive in Kona at 12:45 p.m. the same day.
Aircraft
A330-200. Total capacity: 294 seats; business/first: 18 seats.
Significant points
Passenger demand:
- Hawai’i is the largest travel market for Japanese visitors to the U.S. In 2011, Hawai’i hosted more Japanese visitors than the entire continental US.
- Kona is the second largest travel market between Japan and the US without a nonstop flight, making it the most underserved market of the four gateways being proposed to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
- Even without non-stop service, Kona has more visitors who originate in Japan than 12 existing markets with nonstop service to Tokyo.
- Hawaiian Airlines’ extensive Neighbor island schedule provides frequent connections to other islands within the archipelago, creating expansion opportunities for other Hawai’i destinations.
- Hawaiian Airlines’ A330-200 aircraft, with 294 seats, offers more capacity out of Japan than the other three carriers competing for this route.
Economic benefit:
- Hawaiian Airlines projects that the proposed Kona service would result in $74 million additional dollars injected into the economy of Hawaii and the United States annually.
- Accounting for typical economic multipliers, this incremental spending will result in an additional $135 million in U.S. GDP growth.
- This GDP growth will support an additional 1,400 jobs, mainly on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Hawaiian Airlines’ record of service:
- Hawaiian Airlines has provided continuous service from Haneda to Honolulu since Nov. 2010.
- Hawaiian delivered on its promise to upgrade its HND-HNL aircraft to the Airbus A330.
- Hawaiian predicted that passenger traffic would grow by over 72,000 passengers per year based on Hawaiian’s new flights between Haneda and Honolulu. The market actually grew by 227,626 passengers with Hawaiian and two Japanese carriers on the route – an average increase of 75,875 per carrier.
- Since 2010, Hawaiian Airlines has inaugurated nonstop service between Honolulu and Osaka and Fukuoka and will inaugurate nonstop service to Sapporo in October 2012.
- Hawaiian has established a strong and differentiated brand presence in Tokyo by catering to leisure travelers and providing the authentic local hospitality that allows our passengers to feel as if their Hawaiian vacation begins the moment they board our aircraft.
About Hawaiian Airlines:
- Hawaiian is the 11th largest airline in the United States and has been operating continuously for 83 years since its founding in 1929.
- It is Hawaii’s largest airline and the state’s largest private employer with 4,600 employees, most of which live in the Islands. The company’s success is pivotal to the success of Hawaii. As Hawaiian grows and prospers, so does the state.
- Hawaiian Airlines has an exemplary record, leading the nation’s carriers in on-time service for the past eight years and voted by readers of Travel + Leisure, Condé Naste Traveler and Zagat as the favorite domestic airline serving the Hawaiian Islands. The annual Airline Quality Rating study (AQR) has rated Hawaiian #1 U.S. carrier in recent years.
Letters of Support
Addressed to:
The Honorable Ray LaHood
Secretary of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20590
Re: Docket-OST-2010-0018
Please scan and email to:
ann.botticelli@hawaiianairlines.com
SAMPLE LETTER
The Honorable Ray LaHood
Secretary of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20590
Re: Docket-OST-2010-0018
Dear Secretary LaHood:
I [we] am writing to express my [our] strong support for the application of Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. to provide passenger air service from Kona, Hawaii to Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo International Airport at Haneda). Hawaii is uniquely dependent on air service for its daily life as well as for a major source of its economic well being.
Air service from Japan directly to Kona will provide a much needed boost to our state’s economy, bringing Japanese tourists to the state. Tourism is our biggest business in Hawaii and Japanese tourists spending money in Hawaii, filling our hotels and restaurants and buying at our stores will provide badly needed economic stimulus to our economy and provide new employment opportunities for our citizens.
[paragraph on why it is important to the writer if different than above]
I want to urge that the Department approve Hawaiian’s application so that the State and each of us, who are dependent on air transportation within the State, can realize the significant benefits that such approval will bring to our State and our economy.
Sincerely yours,
