Hawaiian Air will end trips to Fukuoka in late June

Hawaiian Airlines is suspending daily service to Fukuoka, Japan, due to low demand, the second Asian city it has dropped within the past year after an aggressive international expansion.

The state’s largest carrier said Tuesday that the final flight from Honolulu to Fukuoka will be June 29 and the last flight from Fukuoka to Honolulu will be the following day.

Fukuoka is the economic center of Kyu­shu, the southernmost major Japa­nese island.

"Unfortunately, despite two years of effort, we have not seen sufficient passenger growth to justify continuing the service," Hawaiian President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Dunkerley said in a statement.

It costs approximately $100 million to open a new route, Dunkerley has said in the past. Since November 2010, Hawaiian has opened nine new international routes as well as New York service. It also will begin flying to Beijing on April 16.

Hawaiian would not disclose the percentage of seats filled on its flights from Fukuoka to Honolulu, but the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Transportation showed that Hawaiian filled just 53 percent of its seats through the first seven months of 2013. During that span, that number hit a low of 38 percent in January and a high of 67 percent in June.

By comparison, Hawaiian filled 81.5 percent of its seats systemwide in 2013, according to company data.

"We’re disappointed to see the reduction of Hawaiian service from Fukuoka but we’ve pointed out in the past we’re going to expect to see overall adjustments (from airlines) in seat inventory," said David Uchiyama, vice president of brand management for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Hawaiian will continue to serve four other Japanese cities: Tokyo and Osaka on a daily basis and Sendai and Sapporo each three times a week.

But the departure of Hawaiian from Fukuoka will leave Delta Air Lines as the only carrier offering nonstop daily service from that market. Hawaiian had been bringing in 96,360 air seats a year, which was generating an estimated $156 million in visitor spending and $17 million in tax revenue annually, according to the HTA. Delta brings in about 80,300 air seats a year and had been filing 67 percent of its seats, according to DOT data.

Hawaiian’s shutdown of its Fukuoka route will come less than a year after it stopped Manila service on Aug. 1.

The decision to pull out of Manila, which Hawaiian started flying to in April 2008, wasn’t based on how full the planes were but rather competition from Philippine Airlines on the route that kept fares low, according to Hawaiian spokeswoman Ann Botticelli.

"We didn’t have the convergence of the loads and fares," she said. "We had Philippine Airlines competition so the fares were less than $400 for a 13-hour plane ride. We just couldn’t keep doing it."

Hawaiian filled 82 percent of its seats from Manila and Philippine Airlines filled 85 percent through the first seven months of 2013, according to the latest U.S. DOT data.

Former Hawaii Gov. George Ari­yo­shi, who traveled on Hawaiian’s inaugural Fukuoka flight on April 16, 2012, had been excited about the service because he spearheaded the formation of a sister-state relationship between Hawaii and Fukuoka in 1981, the first such partnership in Hawaii. He couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday, but before boarding the inaugural flight two years ago he said the route had special meaning to him because of the sister-state relationship and because his father, Ryozo Ari­yo­shi, came to Hono­lulu from Fukuoka.

Passengers with Fukuoka reservations to fly after June 30 will be reaccommodated, the airline said. Hawaiian said it will contact affected passengers in the next several weeks and continue to accept reservations for travel between Honolulu and Fukuoka before June 30.