Dec. 04--It didn't take too long for Hawaiian Airlines to capitalize on Taiwan being added to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.
The state's largest and oldest carrier said Tuesday it plans to launch three-days-a-week service between the capital city of Taipei and Honolulu next summer.
Hawaiian's announcement came just two months after the United States said it would include Taiwan in the Visa Waiver Program, which permits visa-free travel to the U.S. for eligible travelers visiting for 90 days or fewer for business or tourism. The program went into effect Nov. 1.
Over the past two years, Hawaiian has expanded more aggressively than any domestic carrier. Hawaiian will become the only airline offering nonstop service between Taiwan and Honolulu when it begins flying in July. It will be the ninth new route for Hawaiian since November 2010, when it began service to Haneda International Airport in Tokyo.
Taiwan brought 8,167 visitors to Hawaii last year, and even without the visa waiver, the Hawaii Tourism Authority earlier this year projected that number to grow to 10,642 by the end of 2012.
"We have long known that there is demand for a Hawaii vacation in Taiwan, but visits have been impeded by the cost, complexity and time it has taken its citizens to apply for a U.S. visitor visa," Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said. "Now that Taiwan is part of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, we are delighted to be adding Taipei as the latest city in Hawaiian's growing Asia network."
The airline has often said the impetus for beginning service to Seoul in January 2011 stemmed from South Korea's inclusion in November 2008 in the Visa Waiver Program. In 2007, the year before the waiver, there were 42,000 South Korean visitors to Hawaii. HTA is projecting 146,000 this year.
State and tourism officials are hoping that Taiwan, which has a population of 23 million, follows a similar trend.
The HTA plans to spend a portion of a $2 million marketing fund, which was earmarked by the state Legislature this year for international development, to increase travel from Taiwan to Hawaii, HTA CEO Mike McCartney said.
Hawaiian will operate the flight with one of its new 294-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which will add nearly 46,000 new air seats to the market annually.
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