Hawaii airline emps form anti Go! website

[HPearlyretiree]

Don't Fly Go!

Normally, I'd be against this, but damn, Ornstein is the devil. The guy is doing predatory pricing to kill Aloha.

A strong statement from Hawaiian
(found on Airliners.net)


Statement from Hawaiian Airlines
September 22, 2006

HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines issued the following statement in response to the new $19 interisland fare announced today by Mesa:

“Mesa’s retribution against employees for speaking out with this ‘Hero’ fare is as appalling as it is revealing. Everyone knows that $19 won’t be the long-term price of interisland air travel. Evidence of Mesa’s true motives was revealed in court last week and while Mesa has done much in the news media to obscure that evidence, they didn’t refute it in court. If it wasn’t clear to everyone before, it should be now that Mesa is trying to eliminate competition in Hawaii.â€

Mark Dunkerley
President & CEO
Hawaiian Airlines


They ain't getting my business.

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Go! fare slashing sparks war of words

By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer


The day after go! airlines said it was slashing one-way interisland fares to $19, Aloha Airlines said it is jettisoning some of its cooperative arrangements with go!.

The state's No. 2 airline said yesterday that it will no longer accept go! tickets when go! flights are canceled or delayed. Aloha also said it will no longer accept go!'s passenger baggage when go!'s planes are overloaded.

Airlines usually honor their competitors' tickets for canceled or delayed flights, and will often carry their excess baggage.

But Aloha said go! is attempting to put Aloha and Hawaiian out of business with "sham" fares.

"There is evidence that go! has a plan to drive out hometown airlines and then raise prices for its own gain," said David Banmiller, Aloha's chief executive officer.

"It is clear that go!'s latest action is a direct attack on the livelihood of Aloha's employees and their families."

Hawaiian joined Aloha in its criticism of go!, saying the $19 fare "won't be the long-term price of interisland air travel."

"If it wasn't clear to everyone before, it should be now that Mesa is trying to eliminate competition in Hawai'i," the company said.

Joe Bock, spokesman for go!, denied the charges, saying the airline has increased competition since its June 9 launch.

"It's quite obvious that our intention is to bring competition and low fares to Hawai'i, not remove it," Bock said.

"Competition is good for Hawai'i and it's something that's been absent in the interisland airline market."

Go!, a unit of Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, triggered a local fare war when it introduced $39 one-way interisland tickets on its first day of business. Both Hawaiian and Aloha matched the fare.

Since then, Mesa has dropped one-way fares as low as $29 on several occasions, prompting Aloha and Hawaiian to match each time it has announced a discount.

Go!'s latest $19 fare announcement also was matched by Aloha and Hawaiian.

For fliers like Barbara Hastings, go!'s entry into the market has made a big difference in their pocketbook.

The public-relations executive said she flies about once a week from her home in Hilo to Honolulu, mostly on Aloha. Hastings said she has flown on go! twice and saves a minimum of $60 a week as Aloha brought its fares down to compete with the new airline.

However, some consumers aren't convinced that the airlines are offering enough seats at their lowest prices.

Gloria Garner of Makiki said she was unable to book a $19 flight with go! yesterday for a trip to Kaua'i she plans to take next month.

Garner, a longtime Hawaiian customer, said go!'s Web site showed that the times and dates that she wanted to travel were all booked. Garner said she flew to Kaua'i in July, but was only able to get a ticket at $79 each way.

"They're dangling the bait in front of you," Garner said.

 

[HPearlyretiree]

Island Air sidelines its biggest plane
The carrier blames the increased interisland flight capacity and fare wars initiated by Mesa Air Group
By Dave Segal
[email protected]

Island Air, which last year announced with great fanfare it was bringing in three 78-seat Bombardier Q400 planes into the Hawaii market, said yesterday it was taking one of the planes out of service and postponing the delivery of the other two for six months.

The interisland carrier attributed its decision to the added air seat capacity that Mesa Air Group's go! has brought to the market, high fuel prices and fare wars that have drastically pulled down ticket prices.

"It is clear that go!'s recent $19 fare was a direct attempt to damage yield throughout the marketplace and a blatant effort to drive an airline (Aloha Airlines) out of business," Island Air Chief Executive Rob Mauracher said. "Island Air is therefore proactively taking prudent defensive measures to ensure we can maintain our position in the marketplace and continue providing quality service to our customers."

Mauracher said Island Air, which has four years left on its five-year lease with the Q400, is in negotiations to redeploy the aircraft but could not provide any more details until a deal has been reached.

He said the redeployed Q400, which joined Island Air's fleet in March, could return in the future. The other two now are slated to arrive next year.

"These measures will not affect any of our routes or daily flight schedule, which we will continue to operate with our Dash-8 fleet," Mauracher said.

"Our business plan remains the same: to focus on serving the Hawaii market and to build our niche markets with more direct point-to-point service and off-peak travel than any other scheduled air carrier serving the community."

Island Air has nine 37-seat Bombardier Dash 8s in its fleet and had been planning to retire some aircraft.

By taking the lone Q400 out of service beginning next month, Island Air will fill the void by using one of its spare Dash 8s. Mauracher said Island Air intends to operate with seven Dash 8s and one spare.

Echoing sentiments that have been expressed by the CEOs of Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines, Mauracher criticized go! for disrupting the interisland market with the $19 fares.

"There's a predator out there, and we're looking for the best utilization of our asset (the Q400)," Mauracher said. "We are not prepared to throw good money into the hole right now. The way the pricing is in the market, there's no rational way to deal with it. No one's making money with $19 fares no matter what kind of aircraft they operate, and no matter what they tell you."