The Hawaii Tourism Authority is pleased to welcome Virgin America to Hawaii when it launches inaugural service to the Hawaiian Islands from San Francisco this fall. This announcement is exciting news for Hawaii. We have been working together with Virgin America for more than five years to make these new flights and their entry into our market a reality.
Beginning Nov. 2, 2015, Virgin America will fly new Airbus 320 aircraft with 149 seats on daily non-stop service between San Francisco and Honolulu and anticipates launching direct service from San Francisco to Kahului, Maui on Dec. 3, 2015.
These new flights will increase access to the Hawaiian Islands from both our core U.S. West and U.S. East markets through Virgin America's extensive nationwide flight network. We estimate that flights will generate $138.6 million in visitor spending and $14.8 million in tax revenue for the state on an annual basis.
By year end 2015, scheduled airlift to Hawaii is expected to top 11.8 million seats, an increase of 6.0 percent over last year. Air access is a critical component to the health and sustainability of our tourism economy and the HTA will continue to work with our airline and industry partners to create and maintain demand for travel to the Hawaiian Islands.
No comments:
Post a Comment