Australian Visitor Numbers Increasing

Brisbane, Australia. Red dot on right. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

By Sonia Isotov

With arrivals from Australia for the first quarter 2012 up 55% over last year, Hawaiian Airlines is increasing total seat numbers from Australia by 38% with a new Brisbane service.

Hawaiian Airlines will become the only US carrier to operate service to Brisbane when it begins offering nonstop flights between Honolulu and Brisbane, Australia, three times weekly starting Tuesday, November 27, 2012.

Adding Brisbane service will increase Hawaiian’s weekly flights between Honolulu and Australia to 10, with daily services already operating to Australia’s largest city, Sydney.

Hawaiian’s new Brisbane service will add more than 40,000 seats annually between Australia and Hawai’i, and increase its total seat numbers from Australia by 38%

“Hawaiian’s starting of service between Brisbane and Honolulu is great news for our tourism economy, as this new route will provide better connectivity for Australians to visit Hawaii,” said Mike McCartney, president and chief executive officer  of the Hawai’i Tourism Authority (HTA), in a written statement.

“Hawai’i continues to be a popular destination in Australia. We anticipate this flight to contribute to this continual growth and expansion.”

The HTA estimates that Hawaiian’s Brisbane-Honolulu service will generate $83 million in visitor expenditures and $9 million in tax revenue annually for Hawai’i.