Faced with $19 fares from competitors, Aloha Airlines is jumping in with its own fare promotion -- 1,000 free roundtrip interisland tickets to be given away tomorrow at airports across the state.
The first 500 roundtrip tickets will be given away at the interisland terminal at Honolulu International Airport starting at 7 a.m. Starting at 9, 100 roundtrip tickets will be given away at the airports in Lihue, Kahului, Kona and Hilo. And another 100 will be given away through random drawings at the airports.
Winners won't actually be able to fly on Friday -- the tickets are good for travel between June 24 and Dec. 14.
The coupons will be awarded to the first 500 people in line at the Honolulu ticket counter and the first 100 in line at the Neighbor Island airports. Aloha said state officials are asking people not to line up more than an hour before the giveaway begins.
"We're saying mahalo to Hawaii for making Aloha your favorite airline," said Thom McNulty, the airline's senior vice president of marketing and sales. "It's not all about price. Anybody can offer a $19 fare. It's about being an active part of the community and all of the great things Aloha brings to interisland flying."
A fare war between Hawaii's longtime carriers, Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines, was touched off by the arrival of go!, a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group (NASDAQ: MESA - News), which started by offering $39 one-way interisland fares but this week cut them to $19.
Hawaiian (AMEX: HA - News) and Aloha matched the limited $39 fares, but only Hawaiian dipped to $19. Aloha on Wednesday called the new go! fare "goofy."
go! begins its interisland service on Friday.
Published June 8, 2006 by Pacific Business News
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