Boyd, Imperial Palace to gain from new Hawaii flights

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001 | 11:16 a.m.

Las Vegas newcomer Aloha Airlines will add a third scheduled flight to and from the Hawaiian islands later this year to serve growing tourism markets in both locations.

Aloha started one-stop flights between Honolulu and Maui and McCarran International Airport via Oakland, Calif., earlier this month and on May 1 will add one-stop service to Honolulu through Orange County, Calif.'s John Wayne Airport.

In addition to the scheduled service, a Minnetonka, Minn., tour company has begun offering twice-a-week charter flights directly between Las Vegas and Honolulu.

Worry-Free MLT Vacations began operating the new charter flights earlier this month on DC-10 jumbo jets operated by Omni Airlines.

Hawaiian Airlines discontinued scheduled nonstop service between Las Vegas and the islands in June 1995. Hawaiian currently operates a scheduled daily flight between Honolulu and Las Vegas that stops at Los Angeles International Airport. Hawaiian also has an exclusive charter arrangement with Boyd Gaming Corp. to fly nonstop from Honolulu to Las Vegas.

Aloha spokeswoman Julie King said Aloha is happy with the response it has received on its introduction to Las Vegas and said advanced bookings have exceeded expectations. Part of the reason, King said, could be the special introductory fares Aloha instituted, offering $77 round-trip flights between Las Vegas and Oakland through March 31. Even discount king Southwest Airlines wouldn't match them.

She said there are no plans for special introductory fares to Orange County when the service begins in May.

"We found that there are quite a few people wanting to make quick trips from Las Vegas to the Bay Area as well as from there into Las Vegas," King said.

As on the flights through Oakland, Aloha's Boeing 737 jets through Southern California will leave early and arrive late. The flight to Orange County will leave at 8 a.m. and, after the stop, arrive in Honolulu at 12:47 p.m. The return trip will leave Honolulu International Airport at 11:55 a.m., arriving in Las Vegas at 9:50 p.m. The planes will be parked at McCarran overnight.

In April, Aloha also will make some minor changes to its schedule to offer flight options to other island airports. For example, Las Vegans will be able to take Aloha's one-stop service either to Honolulu, Kahului on Maui or Kona airport on the Big Island.

That's good news for local travel agents, who say Hawaii is the most popular destination for Las Vegans.

"And the good news about that is that with more availability, the price will come down," said John Berman, director of leisure sales for Prestige Travel-American Express.

Berman said the Worry-Free charters, which operate on Mondays and Fridays, are being offered as low as $360 round trip. The company also has tour packages that include seven nights of lodging, ground transportation and lei greetings for $581 per person.

Dennis Casteel of Carlson Wagonlit Summerlin Travel said his company's Hawaii bookings are surpassed only by cruise ship tours. He said the mix of charter flights and scheduled service gives travel agents more options.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas is just as popular with Hawaiians as Hawaii is with Nevadans.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority listed Honolulu as the city's No. 16 market among the top 50 city markets of 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available. The LVCVA reported 431,246 passengers arrived by plane, 193,486 by charter -- making it the fourth largest charter market.

AAA Hawaii says Las Vegas is the No. 1 tourism destination for residents of that state. A spokeswoman for the travel agency said the casinos are the big draw for Hawaiians. Hawaii is one of two states with no legal gambling.

Boyd Gaming is the company that has best cultivated the market and a spokesman for the company said the relationship goes back more than 25 years when company founder Sam Boyd lived in Hawaii.

Rob Stillwell, a Boyd Gaming vice president, said any new service between Las Vegas and Hawaii will help his company because it is so well known among Hawaiians.

Stillwell said the company's Californian hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas, which opened in 1975, is a popular destination for Hawaiians because it caters to those guests, down to the restaurants' menus. Local tourism professionals jokingly refer to the Californian as "Little Hawaii."

"We have a lot of family and high school reunions here for Hawaiian families who come over on packages," Stillwell said. "We're a trusted name."

Stillwell said the Hawaiian Airline charter flights and tour packages primarily are directed at Hawaiians traveling to Las Vegas and not the other direction and the daily flights are about 99 percent full.

He added that it's difficult to count exactly how many Hawaiians visit Las Vegas annually because many of them arrive on flights that first stop on the West Coast. And, every time an airline like United or Delta adds service between Hawaii and the West Coast, it translates into additional visitors for Las Vegas since there are so many shuttle flights between the West Coast and Las Vegas.

Entertainment and marketing in Hawaiian publications helps the center Strip's Imperial Palace hotel-casino attract visitors from the Aloha State.

Janice Mathews, media coordinator for the Imperial Palace, said the resort's popular luau show was sold out for every performance last year.

"You wouldn't think they would come to a luau here, but I think there's a little home-away-from-home familiarity about it that they like," Mathews said.

Mathews said developing a comfort level for guests translates into more casino traffic.

Another Las Vegas entertainment company with a Hawaii connection is On Stage Entertainment Corp., which produces the popular "Legends in Concert" show at the Imperial Palace.

Connie Clark, marketing director for On Stage, said the company, which has theaters and shows in Atlantic City, N.J.; Branson, Mo.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C., in addition to the 18-year-old flagship production at the Imperial Palace, had a version of the Legends show near Honolulu's Waikiki Beach until three years ago.

Clark said a business decision was made to discontinue the show, but the company is considering restarting it in the future.