Carrier Suspends Honolulu-Kauai Service, Plans Comeback

Interisland carrier Island Air last month announced it would suspend service between Honolulu and Princeville, Kauai, after five years of declining passenger traffic and its inability to maintain the Princeville route.

Although Island Air has been operating two daily flights out of Honolulu with a high corporate lift-mainly contractors and developers-the route was becoming unprofitable because of the limited seat capacity on its 18-seat Dash-6 aircraft.

"The route had not been profitable since 1992, with the carrier's daily passenger lift at seven passengers per flight," said airline president Neil Takekawa. "It was a difficult decision because of our long-standing commitment to Kauai's North Shore community, but we could not sustain or justify the costs involved; we were losing $40,000 a month. We'd like to make money. Even a break-even operation would have kept us there."

In contrast with Princeville, Kaui's main airport is served by 40 daily jet flights, including Island's parent company, Aloha Airlines, and its competitor, Hawaiian Airlines.

Island Air does, however, plan to eventually resume flights to Princeville with new aircraft and improvements to the service.

"We are hoping that at some future date, increased demand and improvements to the airport at Princeville will allow us to restart service with more efficient Dash-8 aircraft," said Takekawa. He said that the new planes would seat 32 people, allow for cargo such as golf club bags and offer restrooms.

Despite plans by Island Air to replace its fleet with the larger aircraft, details on the ground still need to be worked out.

The Princeville Corp., which owns the Princeville Airport as well as the Princeville Resort, offered to transfer ownership of the airport to Hawaii's Department of Transportation if certain improvements were made, including enlarging the runway, implementing Federal Aviation Administration safety standards and realigning the Kuhio Highway, the major roadway around the small island.

In a series of ongoing public hearings, the Department of Transportation responded with a plan deemed unacceptable by both Princeville Corp. and the local community.

"For Princeville, the improvements are mostly safety-related," said Stephanie Reid, public relations manager for the Princeville Resort. "There is no radio tower, and that was a big problem when Hurricane Iniki hit in 1992."

The DOT is unveiling another plan at the end of this month, outlining changes that would be state-funded.

For now, the airport is accepting bids from other airlines that have 10-passenger aircraft. One of the airlines Princeville officials are looking at is Trans-Hawaii, based on Oahu. "We'd like to have someone there using the runway today," Reid said. "The business is there with or without the airline running, but it would be great to have the line running.