For Immediate Release: February 3, 2005
DBEDT Release News 05-04

Domestic Air Seat Capacity to the Islands Set New Record in 2004

HONOLULU--Total scheduled air seats to Hawaii for the months of February through April 2005 are forecasted to increase 12.4 percent compared to the same period last year to 2,500,499 seats, according to new statistics compiled and released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

The data represents scheduled (non-chartered flights), nonstop air seats to the islands extracted from the Official Airline Guide database. Starting this month, DBEDT will publish these statistics on a monthly basis and will include scheduled air seats forecasted for the next three months, categorized by island airports and by major visitor markets.

"2004 was a banner year for Hawaii's visitor industry with record total visitor days and visitor spending, exceptional increases from the domestic market and a rebound in international visitors. Contributing to this success was the surge in air seat capacity to the islands," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert.

"The number of total air seats to the state has climbed dramatically over the last two years," added Wienert, who noted that in 2004, there were 6,579,993 scheduled domestic air seats to the islands, setting a new record and exceeding 6 million for the first time. "We anticipate this strong growth in seat capacity will continue to boost our visitor industry."

Combined statistics for February, March and April 2005 show strong increases forecasted for scheduled air seats statewide from Hawaii's top four visitor markets, the U.S. West (+8.8%), U.S. East (+20%), Japan (+22.1%) and Canada (+18.8%).

By island, the number of scheduled air seats to the Honolulu International Airport, with flights from U.S. mainland, Japan, Canada, Other Asia, Oceania and others, is forecasted to rise 11.3 percent during February through April 2005 to 71.6 percent of the total air seats statewide. The Kahului International Airport, with flights from the U.S. and Canada, will show a 15.6 percent growth in air seats to 18.7 percent of the state total. Air seats from the U.S. and Japan to the Kona International Airport is projected to grow by 13.3 percent, increasing its share of seats to 6.5 percent. The Lihue Airport, with flights from the U.S. markets, forecasted a 16.2 percent increase in air seats to account for 3.3 percent of the total.

Three-month forecasts of scheduled air seat statistics are available by the first full week of each month on the DBEDT Web Site: Please visit us at http://www2.hawaii.gov/dbedt/latest, for monthly updates.

For more information, contact:
Marsha Wienert, Tourism Liaison
Phone: (808) 586-2362
Email: marsha.wienert@hawaii.gov

Dave Young
Communications
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov