Things in the Sky

This week, Alaska has launched new service to Maui and Kona from Oakland, and yesterday the Seattle-based carrier announced a couple additional Hawaiian flights.

Photo credit: Chris Weyer. Used with permission.

On March 11, Alaska will begin service from San Jose to Maui (three times a week), and on the next day will launch service to Kona (four times a week). On March 26, the airline will launch daily service from Sacramento to Maui, which is a flight  that was operated by Aloha before it went bust. Hawaiian Airlines flies to Honolulu from both cities.

It’s certainly nice to see carriers like Alaska (and now Continental) help fill in the void left behind by the departures of ATA and Aloha. Alaska has become a much larger player in the Hawaiian market of late, and very quickly. Alaska only started service to Hawaii a little over two years ago. Service has been growing – especially this year after the airline decided to slash Mexico capacity by 37%. The airline is now up to 73 weekly roundtrips to Hawaii – such growth over a two-year span suggests that Alaska is finding success in the market.