Hawaiian Airline Passenger Growth Promising for Vacation Rental Owners


April 15, 2016

Thinking about buying a Maui home or condo for use as a vacation rental property? Many savvy buyers have observed that Hawaii’s slow and steady visitor industry growth has been widely covered in business related news throughout the post recession years. Mostly, the information involves statistics on daily spending, hotel occupancy, etc. But another significant indicator of the visitor industry and Hawaii’s economic performance in general comes from the airlines.

Hawaiian Airlines recently reported a 3.6 percent increase in their number of passengers in March, compared to the same month last year. The figure jumped from 887,346 to 919,547. Since the airline tends to be highly rated in customer satisfaction and is often the most on-time carrier in the U.S., it has become popular not only with vacationers, but also with residents and business travelers. As such, it tends to be a pretty good barometer for Hawaii’s growth.

The airline also reported a 5.3 percent increase in traffic (revenue passenger miles) during the same period, and a capacity (available seat miles) increase of 3.1 percent. Load factor (percentage of seating filled) was up 1.7 percent to 82.9 percent full.

In the Maui real estate market, we often urge buyers to look at long-term trends for the clearest picture of industry performance, and that is no different for the airlines, which is why the year-to-date statistics were so interesting. So far this year, Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger count was up 4.9 percent to 2.65 million. Traffic was up 5.8 percent, capacity 3.3 percent, and load factor up 2 percent to 81.1 percent. It’s a good sign when the year-to-date statistics show more growth than you see in a given month.

When it comes to real estate investments, getting a sense of the big picture is vital, and we hope this information has helped in that regard. For more information about the real estate market itself, or finding the right property for your needs, we would be happy to assist you. If you should need us, you’ll find our contact information at the bottom of the page. Mahalo!



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