Hawaiian Airlines plans to reinstate flights to the mainland US in August, as Governor David Ige eases restrictions that have kept domestic tourists at bay for over three months.
A total of 252 weekly flights will connect the state to the US mainland, coupled with 114 intra-state services. Destinations served from Honolulu will include Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose, San Diego, Portland, and Oakland – as well as east coast cities like Boston and New York.
Speaking at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Governor Ige said that the time has come “to work together as a community to ensure that our residents and local businesses can safely return to a larger volume of travellers”.
Roughly 21 per cent of the island’s population works in the tourism sector. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that the state’s workforce had sought unemployment benefits at the highest rate in the nation.
While the island never expressly banned domestic tourists, a 14-day quarantine requirement introduced on 26 May has seen demand for non-essential travel plummet, causing Hawaiian to suspend all but one daily flight between Honolulu and LA.
At the time, CEO Peter Ingram said that “as a result of [the 14-day quarantine restrictions], we expect demand for travel to and from Hawaii to essentially stop during this period”.
However, with all this set to lift on 1 August, the airline said it plans to introduce “limited service to its mainland gateways” with immediate effect.
“The layered safety measures put in place to protect the health of our local communities promise to make travel to and from Hawaii more accessible than in recent months,” he said.
Hawaiian also plans to reintroduce flights from the mainland to some neighbouring island destinations including Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island.
Passengers will be required to provide documentation proving they have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their arrival.
The state government said it will not provide this testing for passengers at the airport, though travellers will be required to undergo temperature checks.
