Diminished demand is prompting low-cost carrier Allegiant Air to place seven of the 10 flights it currently operates between the West Coast and Hawaii on a “seasonal hiatus” beginning Aug. 14, according to company officials.
A search of the carrier’s website shows service to Hawaii from Eugene, Ore.; Stockton, Fresno, and Santa Maria, Calif.; Boise, Idaho; Spokane, Wash.; and Phoenix cannot be purchased on Allegiant’s website after Aug. 14.
“We anticipate they will be back for the holiday season,” Jessica Wheeler, the public relations manager for Allegiant Travel Co., wrote in an email. “But we do not have a definitive date at the moment, as our current schedule only runs through Oct 28.”
Allegiant’s three-times-weekly service between Honolulu and Las Vegas has been reduced to two flights a week after Aug. 14, but the carrier’s twice-weekly service to Honolulu and Maui from Bellingham, Wash., has not yet been altered.
“This is a completely normal part of our business, and one of the many things that contribute to our success,” Wheeler said. “Our customer is the leisure traveler, and the leisure travel market tends to have predictable seasonal fluctuation. We will add capacity in markets when demand is highest and shift capacity around our network when demand is naturally low in some markets.”
Las Vegas-based Allegiant inaugurated flights to Hawaii last June.