Westjet’s new route, Calgary to Honolulu is 3,120 miles, over 400 miles further than Vancouver. Therein the problem, which others have written about, sans the Aloha Air connection.

As for Aloha, certainly there were other issues, and especially the old inter-island planes. The owners ran the business into the ground.

That not withstanding, Aloha’s lack of creativity like that displayed here by Westjet, resulted in unprofitability on their trans-Pacific routes, which contributed to their demise.

Aloha, Jeff

Check your range circles. WestJet has been operating Vancouver-Hawaii for 3 winters now. Vancouver-HNL is 2,705 miles.

Los Angeles – Honolulu is 2,556 miles, just 149 miles less. The earth bulges around the middle. Remember?

Because of ATC congestion in the LA basin, the actual time in the air is often more than Vancouver-Hawaii.

Don’t forget Alaska operates ANC-HNL, 2,777 miles in 737-700’s.

Copa operates Panama City-Buenos Aires in a 737-700, a flight of 3,300 miles.

Aloha failed because they did not heed the advice to get rid of the 950+ gph, $1,500 per hour maintenance pig, 30 year old fleet of B737-200’s for inter island flying and replace them with newer, more fuel efficient aircraft when they had the chance in bankruptcy in 2005.

The moment oil went over $40 a bbl, it was gameover for Aloha.

Everyone in the industry, including Mesa, knew it was just a matter of time.