Mario Tama | Getty Images
A woman takes photos while riding a tour boat to view Kilauea volcano lava entering the Pacific Ocean at dawn, as a steam plume rises, on Hawaii’s Big Island on May 22, 2018 near Pahoa, Hawaii.
Hawaiian Airlines has experienced a modest decline in bookings on flights since an eruption at Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano began forcing evacuations from homes last month, the carrier’s chief executive said on Monday.
The biggest impact has been on flights from Honolulu to Hilo and Kona, airports located on the Big Island where the volcano is erupting, CEO Peter Ingram said on the sidelines of an airline industry conference.
“I think some of that is probably people connecting off longer-haul flights,” he told Reuters.
“There are a lot of one-day tours where people will go to Hilo and spend some time and go to Volcanoes National Park. Volcanoes National Park has been closed for a few weeks now.”
Ingram said the volcano had not led the airline to delay or cancel any flights to date. However, tourism authorities last month said summer bookings for hotels on Hawaii’s Big Island have fallen almost 50 percent since the volcano began spewing lava and toxic gases on May 3.
Original source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/04/hawaiian-airlines-says-volcanic-eruption-led-to-modest-drop-in-bookings.html.
