Nonstop Air Seats Expected to Reach Record Levels

Kahului Airport Check-In Lobby. Photo courtesy of Dept of Transportation.

By Sonia Isotov

The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), the state’s tourism agency, is forecasting continued growth of total scheduled non-stop air seats to Hawai‘i in the third quarter of 2012.

With the anticipated increase in total air seats, third quarter seat capacity to Hawaii is on track to reach record levels and exceed prior peak 2007 levels by 2.6%.

Total scheduled seat capacity to the state is expected to climb 12.6% during the third quarter, and 10.2% to Maui, between July through September 2012, in comparison to the same period last year. This increase is attributed to growth from domestic and most of Hawaii’s major international source markets, including new flights from New York and Washington, DC as of June 2012.

Kahului Airport, control tower. Photo by Wendy Osher.

Scheduled seats from Japan are expected to increase 15.4% in the third quarter of 2012, mainly due to growth in seats from Osaka (16.3%) and Tokyo-Narita (6.2%), and recently launched service from Fukuoka by both Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines.

The non-stop air seats from Canada to Hawai‘i are expected to be even with prior year levels in the third quarter of 2012.

Asia is expected to continue to be Hawaii’s fastest growing region for scheduled air seats during the July through September 2012 period, with anticipated gains from both South Korea (+55%) and Shanghai (48.3%).

Oceania, boosted by gains from both Australia (32.9%) and New Zealand (12.4%), is the state’s second fastest growing region with air seats expected to grow 29.4% in the third quarter of 2012.

Scheduled third quarter seats from the US West region are expected to rise 8.8%, with significant increases in capacity from Oakland (54.8%), San Diego (60.5%), San Jose (81.1%), Las Vegas (18.3%) and Los Angeles (11%) driving this growth.

Air seats from the US East region are expected to increase by 25% in the third quarter, boosted by the launch of Hawaiian Airlines’ non-stop flights from New York (139%) and United Airlines’ non-stop flights from Washington, DC In addition, United is also expected to increase service from Houston (9.9%) during this period.

To download the third quarter 2012 Airline Seat Capacity Outlook tables, click here.