Prospects for upcoming Hawaii deals are continuing to improve. The latest indication is new service that will soon add 210,000 annual seats to the Hawaii travel deal market.
San Francisco to Maui Nonstop
Last week Hawaiian Airlines announced new year-round Airbus 330 service. Flights commence from Maui on November 20, 2014 on a four time per week basis and change to daily starting on December 17. Flights depart San Francisco at 9:50 am and arrive Maui at 1:15 pm. The return flight departs Maui at 2:55 pm and arrives San Francisco at 9:55 pm.
We don’t yet see and didn’t anticipate great fares at the outset. Those may come later. Current pricing starts at about $300 each way except over Christmas. This route competes directly with United Airlines’ own nonstop San Francisco to Maui service.
The new flights come after the carrier previously reinstated San Jose to Honolulu flights and for the first time offered seasonal service this summer from Oakland and Los Angeles to Kauai and the Big Island. All together, more flights mean more opportunities for competitive pricing, largely in relation to Alaska Airlines and perhaps United Airlines.
This continued increase in airlift to Hawaii which is based on increased vacation travel demand, will result in increased US visitor arrivals to Hawaii over the next year.