Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Hawaiian Airlines plans to maintain the current two weekly flights between Honolulu and Pago Pago for the upcoming holiday season, but the Honolulu-based carrier will monitor demand, says airline spokesman Alex Da Silva.

In past years, Hawaiian Airlines usually adds a third weekly flight during the summer months as well as the holiday season towards the end of the year, due to passenger demand.

But some local residents and individuals residing in the U.S told Samoa News in recent days that the airline is not adding a third-flight during the Christmas and New Year holiday period for the Honolulu-Pago Pago route.

Responding to Samoa News queries via email from Honolulu yesterday, Da Silva said that Hawaiian Airlines plans “to maintain our two weekly flights through the holiday season” on the Honolulu-Pago Pago route.

“We continue to monitor demand to ensure we are operating an adequate level of capacity,” he said but didn’t respond to the specific question as to why the airline made the decision not to add a third weekly flight, as it has done in past years.

Students attending college in the U.S and Samoans wanting to return home for the holiday traditionally keep the incoming flights busy. And local residents wanting to spend the holiday in the US have kept the outbound flights full in past years.

An option that possible future travelers are exploring is travel to Apia, Samoa to catch the Fiji Airways flight to Honolulu.

BACKGROUND

Hawaiian Air in July 2023 reported that an engine recall for its Airbus A321neos is likely to affect the carrier’s already pressured results and future capacity plans, with an eye on aircraft shortages, according to Airline Weekly.

The engine recall is based on issues related to a “rare condition in powdered metal” that could result in certain parts wearing out faster than expected, RTX, which owns engine manufacturer P&W,  the weekly reports.

Hawaiian Air has also been notified by Boeing that its first 787 delivery, scheduled for November 2023 has been delayed to January 2024, causing impact on their remaining 2024 deliveries, HA Chief Financial Office Shannon Okinaka is reported to have noted.