Northwest-Delta deal could further reduce Hawaii air capacity
The proposed merger between Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines brings new uncertainty to Hawaii's air-dependent tourism business.
Northwest is the fourth largest airline serving Hawaii and carried about 840,000 passengers to the state last year. Based in Minnesota, the airline dominates the Midwest and also offers flights to West Coast cities including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In addition, Northwest has the second most flights between Hawaii and Japan and flew about 350,000 international passengers last year, second only to Japan Air Lines.
Based in Atlanta, Delta is the sixth largest carrier serving Hawaii.
Together, the airlines carried 1.55 million passengers to Hawaii last year. Delta offers five daily roundtrips to Oahu and two to Maui; Northwest has six domestic roundtrips and three international roundtrips daily to Oahu.
Airline industry analysts say they expect the airlines to try to cut $1 billion in annual costs to make the merger work and those cuts will likely come by trimming staff and reducing service on duplicated routes quick payday loan.
Both airlines offer service from Hawaii to and from San Francisco and Los Angeles, potentially meaning more air capacity will be lost from California, where the shutdowns of Aloha and ATA airlines have already cost thousands of seats.
There's also uncertainty about how the airlines' two frequent flyer programs — Delta's SkyMiles and Northwest's WorldPerks — will be merged. The programs, popular with travelers to Hawaii, are significantly different and the merger could make it more difficult for customers to earn and redeem miles for free trips.
And there is already significant opposition to the merger by some unions, suggesting a more unsettled summer for travel. Northwest's 5,000 pilots oppose the deal as does the International Association of Machinists, representing 12,500 Northwest ground employees.