Hawaiian and Aloha flights are pretty no-frills interislands IMHO, of course... but given a failed merger last year between the two airlines, this cost both airlines big bucks: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln03a.html (timeline of merger)

Of course, an ailing tourism economy, smacked by lower Japanese arrivals into the islands has created a lower demand for interisland travel:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../bz/bz04a.html (is an article from the airlines' first fare hike this year, doesn't quite do the question justice, but does help)
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacif...24/daily8.html (explains the Japanese visitor count and importance)

And... finally more flights by domestic carriers between the neighbor islands and the mainland. In fact, United and American offer non-stop service between Kauai, Maui and Kona on the Big Island, and Continental recently announced a new IAH-OGG flight. With more direct flights to these neighbor islands, people are wanting less to make that interisland connection in HNL... and with higher interisland fares on AQ (Aloha) and HA, well... the problems keep rolling.

So... looks like a supply demand problem here... The only way for AQ and HA to stay afloat? Well, continue adding flights from the neighbor islands to the mainland to compete with domestic carriers (which is what they've been doing)... but even that doesn't help the cause for higher interisland fares... they're only adding to their own woes. Of course, low-cost/no-frills carries such as WP and JetBlue on the mainland have their high demand because of the markets they serve... there is a demand for those routes... but Interisland travel is really another realm, that I cannot honestly find the words to explain.

It's a problem that can't be helped... Possible Solution: cut all direct flights from the mainland to the neighbor islands...
Probable Problem: You'll all scream at me... and the domestic carriers will lose their high profits from these direct flights that our visitors love so much...

Perhaps, AQ and HA should just cut all interisland flights, and focus more on the direct flights from the mainland to the neighbor islands... we locals will fend for ourselves by either swimming for it (so what if there are sharks out there... $98 is just too high!) or using that double hulled canoe... why won't anyone buy the idea?

Aloha

Edited to add content

[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited 05-23-2003).]