Japan Airlines was able to return virtually all passengers to Japan today that were stranded in Hawaii as a result of last week’s earthquake and tsunami, a JAL spokesman said.

JAL grounded all six of its flights from Japan to Hawaii on Friday, leaving no return flight for 1,500 passengers who were scheduled to fly back from Hawaii to Japan, said Winston Lee, JAL’s director of sales and public relations in Hawaii.

The airline added one extra flight yesterday and two today to help alleviate the passenger backlog, Lee said.

By yesterday JAL was able to return 700 of the stranded passengers, he said, adding the 800 remaining passengers were scheduled to depart today.

Lee said it was premature to say whether JAL might reduce the number of flights to Hawaii.
“If demand softens considerably might be some adjustment, but it’s too early to say,” according to Lee.