Central Pacific From 3 Miles UP

Yesterday, May 22nd, Hawaiian Airlines announced fare and fuel surcharge rate raises, saying that fuel prices were 100% higher than a year ago.

Last month, when I was on Maui, Aloha Air, a family business for 65 years, went bankrupt, first the passenger airlines and than the inter-island cargo division. For a few days, it was chaos. Aloha carried 85% of the inter-island cargo, including the mail and food. The US Postal Service quickly contracted carriers to keep the mail moving, living up to their motto of delivering the mail, no matter what the weather (or fuel-created crisis.)

The costs of rising fuel is devastating to Hawaii. Isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they are completely dependent on goods from the mainlands and on tourism. How this all will play out remains to be seen. But for now, Hawaii Costco is doing a booming business, and not just in rice and toilet paper.

I just checked for fares into the Fall and find that the lowest fares have more than doubled.