Posted on 08/15/2006 7:58:16 PM PDT by coconutt2000
Hawaiian Air seeking the federal government's intervention to respond to American Samoa's concerns was anticipated by his administration Governor Togiola said on his weekend radio program.
Togiola said it is his personal opinion that Hawaiian does not want to respond directly to local concerns, especially on the issue of reducing air fares for the Pago Pago route, because the airline does not want to reduce the current high fares.
So instead of addressing the high fares and excessive charges imposed on American Samoa's passengers, Hawaiian Air is dragging the issue around by asking DOT for a ruling on the executive order, said Togiola.
Instead of Hawaiian Air responding directly to the order, Togiola said, other people have defended the airline and his administration was prepared for this. Without identifying the defenders, he claimed there are many Hawaiian Air friends and supporters out there.
Now that Hawaiian Air has petitioned the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to rule on whether his executive order barring the airline from landing in Pago Pago is enforceable, the governor says he plans to raise concerns that the airline is not meeting the required 700-plus available seats a week for the Pago Pago market.
He said on his weekend radio program that this is but one of the issues that he wants DOT to address and he is not concerned with Hawaiian's petition because his administration reviewed and researched all necessary regulations, including how Hawaiian Air would respond or not respond to the July 26 executive order.
He said one of the requirements [under the Essential Air Service agreement] that Hawaiian is not meeting is he required number of available seats a week for American Samoa.
Hawaiian is required to provide 700 available seats a week to Pago Pago, said Togiola, and the usual two weekly flights do not meet this requirement. Even the three weekly flights, for the summer months, does not fulfill this requirement because Hawaiian is to provide 1,018 seats during the busy months.
Hawaiian currently uses a Boeing 767-300 fleet of aircraft, which carries 252 passengers, for its South Pacific and mainland flights.
Hawaiian started using B767 aircraft for Pago Pago in late January 2003, replacing DC-10 planes that carry 304 passengers. It was at this time that questions were raised of whether Hawaiian was to increase weekly flights to three a week to meet the required number of available seats to Pago Pago.
Congressman Faleomavaega Eni also raised the issue with Hawaiian after receiving questions from his constituents at the time. Faleomavaega told Samoa News in February 2003 that Hawaiian assured him that every effort would be made "to accommodate passenger demand on the Pago Pago-Honolulu route."
"This means, if there is a passenger demand, the airline will make every effort to fill that need," Faleomavaega said at the time, which Wagner reiterated in a separate interview.
Faleomavaega also said the airline had determined it was not economically feasible to add another weekly flight for the Pago Pago route using Boeing 767 aircraft.
While there is a decrease in available seats, the congressman was informed by the airline, the cargo/baggage capacity for B-767 was larger, providing 67,500 pounds a flight, compared to DC-10s with 26,000 pounds.
Hawaiian believes the Governor's executive order is preempted by federal law, and the governor argues otherwise.
"In the interest of clarifying the situation for all concerned, we're asking DOT to rule on this," said Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner in a statement last Thursday.
Reach the reporter at fili@samoanews.com
the Samoans should go back to voyaging canoes ,rather than depend on HAL. Most of them really need to lose some weight anyway.
You Who
That's an insanely inane comment designed to not win the friendship of people who tend to be over six feet tall, and over 250 lbs.
Hawaiian should drop the Pago Pago route unceremoniously; the gubernatorial meddling should suffice to discourage future competition, leaving American Samoa entirely dependent on medieval Polynesian style transport.
That's an insanely inane comment
Oh really? A true 'friend' would not want them to continue dying at relatively young ages, due to being way over weight.
it's s'ok , I don't kiss local okole....
if they are overcharging then allow another airline to compete already
I'm afraid I can't fly you to Pago Pago, Dave.
That would be unfortunate.
the gubernatorial meddling should suffice to discourage future competition,
The government down there has discouraged competition for three decades. Hawaiian has hung in there. But it should be noted that until the past 6 years, Hawaiian Airlines was not the friendly skies where its Samoan passengers were concerned. Many Samoans do feel a grievance against HAL for past mistreatment, and the governor is playing on those memories for support. He's becoming the most dangerous type of politician - a populist demagogue without ethics or morals.
leaving American Samoa entirely dependent on medieval Polynesian style transport.
Please refrain from making such ignorant comments in the future. What American Samoa needs is for the FBI and DOI to hold the government in American Samoa responsible and accountable to Federal laws. Stopping Hawaiian Airlines flights won't accomplish anything except bolster the Democrat governor's support, and probably result in all the wrong things.
The governor is dealing with shady airline operators, probably planning on setting up his own monopoly after chasing Hawaiian Airlines out.
The entire comment was inane. Not just the part about the weight.
The shady "governor" is dealing with a business that he wishes to replace with his own cronies.
Please don't dismiss Samoa so easily.
Do not forget that Samoa contributes large numbers of its young adults to military service, and they serve with honor and often distinction.
American Samoa needs help dealing with its corruption problems, and it needs a viable alternative to the Democratic Party which runs the show down there. It is no surprise that LBJ's Great Society and changes in territorial administration and oversight have resulted in rampant corruption and unaccountability. Abandoning Samoa now would be irresponsible and a betrayal of all the sacrifices made by individual Samoans for this country.
Make everyone pay by the pound. Why should a 400 pound sumo wrestler pay no more than my 20 pound granddaughter for the same flight accomodations?
Or maybe we should pay by fame. The sumo wrestler is more famous than the child, so he (she or it) should ride cheaper. The child has accomplished nothing and should thus pay mightily for wasting airspace!
There are a lot more rate deals than we would like to suppose when we fly and most of them don't apply for most of us, except that we pay for them as the favored ones fly cheaply at our collective expense..
Trust me. Math isn't his strongest subject... Not by a long shot.
Thanks for the post. We face many of the same problem in Ak, high prices, bad service, etc. For example - flight to Seattle from ANC is the same if you fly out of Sitka to Seattle.
Last I flew Alaska Air, I was surprised, they actually took off (almost) on time.
You know, you really should apologize. There are a number of Samoan Freepers, and that was a thoughtless remark..
LOL. Oddly enough, that's been suggested for all of the U.S., not just Samoa.
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