Thread: Hawaii Airfare War

Okay, my two cents worth.

The "new" airline is actually Mesa, DBA go!, www.iflygo.com.
While the new low fares will be good for Hawai'i I think they will be short lived. The cards are stacked against go! and it doesn't seem likely they'll make a 'go!' of it. (pun intended )

1. There are already 3 airlines that provide interisland service. There are only just so many customers to go around. And, go! isn't connected with any mainland carrier to feed them tourists. Their hope is to find a niche flying locals.

2. This is far from the first time someone has tried to invade the skies of Hawai'i. HA and AQ have never stood for outside competition and I don't think they will allow it this time. Their M.O. is to run the new guy out of town. To date they have been very sucessful in doing just that.

3. A little insider infomation from a reliable source I'm not allowed to reveal has it that Mesa is not in very good financial condition (okay, so most of the airlines industry is hurting). This source holds a good portion of Mesa's aircraft portfolio and knows just how far in arrears the company is on its lease payments.

With Mesa's financial condition and the airline business climate in Hawai'i in general it doesn't seem too likely that they will succeed.

I'll take my finder's fee in chocolate chip cookies.

Keep'em flying

Hi there! Point taken and my prediction is just that, a prediction. The venture will either be very profitable or very disastrous. The jury is still out on that one as go! has only been flying a few days now. I wish them all the luck in the world but history is not on their side.

The first point is just based on island aviation history. The locals aren't too friendly when it comes competition in the skies, a number of carriers have come and gone over the years. The difference this time is that Hawaiian is still recovering from bankruptcy and Aloha is still mired in it. So neither carrier is in a position to fight really hard. So that, in the end, may give go! what it needs to be successful.

The second observation is not anything that an typical employee or invester could really know. The financials on the company website would never reveal how far behind a company is on payments of any type. The person in question has access to this info because they are trying to sell the leases they hold on some Mesa aircraft. And Mesa is, in fact, behind on aircraft payments. Nothing critical, but enough that the lease holder wants out and are willing to sell at break even or even at a slight loss. So fortunately or unfortunately I do have some idea of what I speak.

So, anywho...welcome to the forum...where are you based?

Something else...

For 1 or 2 days last week go! offered $19 fares for about 30 days but only thru the first week of July. We'll be back in Hawai'i in September so I jumped on their site to check validity dates only to find they were really limited in scope. $19 beats any interline agreement! Heck, even the $39 fare Mig. mentioned above comes close!

The $39 fares have been very well received! Thanks to the low fares go! has been the talk of the town.

Most of my in-laws are in Hawai'i. We travel back to the islands regularly.

China? Really? If that happens I might expect a local Chinese investor using Mesa's experience in some sort of joint venture.

By the way I loved China!