Hawaiian Airlines has implemented a new fare structure for neighbor island travel that lowers ticket prices across all of its fare classes from 4 to 25 percent. The new rates, which became available for booking on July 17, are designed to stimulate increased inter-island travel.

Under the new fare structure, the lowest fare for a one-way nonstop interisland flight (including taxes and mandatory federal fees) is $65 for travel from Honolulu to Kahului and Lihu'e. The new structure's three lowest fares from Honolulu to Kahului, Lihu'e, Hilo and Kona are all lower than the previously published lowest web fare.

In addition, the airline's parent company, Hawaiian Holdings, has signed a letter of intent to acquire turbo-prop aircraft with the aim of establishing a subsidiary carrier to serve routes not currently in Hawaiian's neighbor island system. “We are committed to providing safe, frequent and reliable service that allows our residents to travel more easily between all the islands, and we believe the additional capacity and new fares will encourage that,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian's executive vice president and chief commercial officer.

The new fare structure complements the additional neighbor island capacity and routes Hawaiian introduced earlier this year. Over the past year, Hawaiian has increased capacity by 13 percent and created a Maui hub to increase service between the Valley Isle, Kaua'i and Hawai'i Island. The turbo-prop subsidiary will allow Hawaiian to further expand capacity with daily flights to rural areas.

Hawaiian has offered "Hawaiian Saver" fare sales over the last several months as a way to test customer response to a variety of pricing options. The Hawaiian Saver fare, which has some restrictions, proved to be attractive to highly cost-conscious travelers. As a result, Hawaiian Saver fares will now anchor the airline's fare structure as a restricted "guaranteed lowest available fare." All other base fares have also been reduced to provide attractive pricing throughout the day on all of Hawaiian's 170 daily neighbor island flights.