Four Hawaiian Airlines flights are cancelled Friday as federally mandated air travel cuts take effect.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that, as air traffic controllers continue to go unpaid during the weeks-long shutdown of the federal government, flights to 40 major air hubs will be reduced by 10%.
A preliminary list of those hubs was released Thursday, according to Associated Press reporting. On that list was Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Tara Shimooka told Aloha State Daily that four of the airline’s 150 Neighbor Island flights on Friday will be cancelled: a roundtrip between Honolulu and Maui and another between Honolulu and Kona.
“We know how much our residents and visitors rely on our Neighbor Island service, and we will continue to operate a robust schedule with 20 Honolulu-Maui roundtrips, and 15 Honolulu-Kona roundtrips, in addition to our regularly scheduled flights to and from Līhu‘e and Hilo,” Shimooka said via email. “We are notifying impacted guests with the option to be accommodated on the next available flights or receive a full refund. Hawaiian and Alaska airlines flights between Hawai‘i and the continental U.S., as well as our international routes, are not impacted.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation had not received guidance from the FAA about the proposed cuts. But Director Ed Sniffen sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urging him to exclude the Honolulu airport from the plan.
“Hawai‘i is uniquely vulnerable as the nation's most isolated population center, with no viable alternative to air travel for commerce, health care, or national security needs,” the letter read in part.
Sniffen wrote that the state “stands ready to immediately advance full salaries and benefits for all FAA air traffic controllers … assigned to Hawai‘i facilities for the duration” of the shutdown, and that those moneys can be available via emergency agreements within 24 hours.
“Granting this targeted waiver — conditioned on Hawaii's direct funding of these essential personnel — would maintain full flight schedules, protect public safety, and prevent unnecessary damage to a state that contributes disproportionately to America's strategic interests,” Sniffen concluded.
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