Airfare War
Mesa Airlines, better known on the mainland as America West, began inter-island service June 8th as Go! Airlines. Local residents were delighted to have the new carrier, as introductory fares were just $39 one way. At the time Go! began promoting the new service in May, Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines had been charging double that amount. Not to be outdone, both airlines matched the $39 rate. So how goes Go! Respond? You guessed it, they lowered the fare again to $29 one way. Hawaiian and Aloha promptly followed suit.
Of course if you'd like to take advantage of these low fares, be prepared to fly at times no one else wants to. Like 5am and 6am going to and from your destination. However, for a $58 round trip to Honolulu, lots of folks are getting up early. Go! Reported a load factor of 81% their first month of operation.
Go! is also heavily promoting the fact that "you never get a middle seat" with them. That's because their jets are smaller (and hence more fuel efficient), holding just 50 passengers in two rows of two seats each. Plans are to expand service in 2007, adding jets with a passenger capacity of 90.
During the past ten years there has been more than one attempt to start up a new airline to compete with Hawaiian and Aloha. All previous attempts failed. The reason no one is counting Go! out of the race this time is that they are owned by a very large company experienced in low cost operations. The betting is that they are here to stay and only time will tell if both Hawaiian and Aloha can withstand the competitive pressure. Perhaps a merger of the two, which almost happened two years ago, will now become necessary for survival.
Hawaiian Recycling Program Off To A Great Start
More than 620 million containers were redeemed last year throughout the State of Hawaii. That represents 68% of all containers  sold and is an excellent beginning for the new program. Purchasers of glass, plastic and aluminum containers marked HI-5, pay a 6 cent surcharge at the time of purchase-a 5 cent deposit and a 1 cent administrative fee. The monies collected go into a fund administered by the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH).
Five cents is returned to the consumer when the container is brought back in to a redemption center. The State also pays an additional 2-3 cents to companies that process and ship the materials.
Legislators originally thought that this item by item deficit (6 cents collected and 7-8 cents paid out) might be a problem if redemptions went above 70%. They even provided for an half cent increase in the administrative fee once redemptions reached that percentage. That hasn't turned out to be necessary, as $24 million currently sits in the fund with redemptions at 68%. Janet Okubo, the spokesperson for DOH, recently stated that "Current surplus funds in the HI-5 fund are sufficient to sustain the program."
Kauai Ethnicity Shows Great Variety
Anyone that has spent time on the Garden Island notices the wide ethnic diversity of the population. A recent study by F. Kenneth Stokes of the Kauaian Institute highlighted the fact that Kauai has a more balanced set of peoples than elsewhere. He used U.S. Census data and looked at it from a number of different perspectives. For example, the data on ancestry reveals that two thirds of Kauaians have a mixed bloodline. So when someone adds up the numbers of the various ancestries represented, they exceed the 58,463 residents.
The report showed that the largest single ancestry reported was Filipino at 18,500, followed by 13,200 Hawaiian and part Hawaiian and 12,498 Japanese. And while almost 20,000 people listed their ancestry as being of European descent, the single largest category was Portuguese at 3,951. The balance in the European group were German 3,889, English 3,150, Irish 2,845, Italian 1,623, French 1,060, Scottish 806, American 643, Swedish 559 and Polish 548.
Additionally, the island has 4,800 Hispanic and 5,300 Chinese residents, 600 Korean, 150 Asian Indian and 1,300 other Asian residents.
Case Pursues Attack on Akaka Over Debates
As the race for the United States Senate seat up for election this year heats up, U.S. Representative Ed Case continued his relentless attack on incumbent Senator Daniel Akaka's unwillingness to debate him. "Senator Akaka's clear strategy is to avoid, at all costs, any opportunity for Hawaii voters to actually evaluate this crucial choice in a side-by-side appearance," Case said in the release.
Local politicians have puzzled over Case's decision to give up his safe U.S. House of Representative seat to try and unseat Akaka. Comments were heard that it wasn't the "gentlemanly" thing to do. After all, Akaka has been in office since 1990 and is 81 years old, the same age as Inouye, the other U.S. Senator. The implication is that one should respect ones elders.
Case makes the point that age and/or time on the job should not be the determining factors in electing a Senator. And that now is the time to prepare for the future by electing someone younger who can climb the seniority ranks until Inouye retires.
A recent Time Magazine named the 10 best and 5 worst United States Senators and placed Akaka on the "five worst" list. The polls show Akaka with less than a 10% lead with less than six weeks to go before the primary. It remains to be seen whether voters will agree with Time Magazine or stick by their old friend.
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