State transportation officials said that flight reductions that took effect Friday had a relatively minimal impact on operations at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
But cancellations elsewhere are already taking their toll on people trying to get to Honolulu from the continental U.S.
“I’ve been planning my wedding,” said Kendall Holmstrom. “I’m going to get married with my fiancee on our seven-year anniversary.”
That wedding is scheduled for Tuesday. Holmstrom was expecting about a dozen relatives due in this weekend for the wedding. Some of them, including her father, were supposed to come in from the east coast.
“Lots of stops along the way, which is the other scary thing,” she said. “And I think a lot of those, the return flight home was canceled. So they could get here, but then they’d be stuck.”
It’s not just flights from the mainland. Ten interisland flights were canceled Friday, with seven more already canceled for Saturday.
Beatrix Pfenning of Canada was supposed to fly from Lihue to Honolulu Saturday.
“Now, Hawaiian has canceled my flight,” she said. She had booked her flight several months ago, but she used a travel agency.
“I booked a $150 new flight, and they won’t give me a refund on my old flight,” said Pfenning, who is scheduled to fly home to Canada Saturday night.
HNL is one of 40 major U.S. airports where the FAA ordered carriers to reduce flights by 10% to ease the strain on air traffic controllers who’ve been working without pay because of the federal government shutdown.
The state has asked for an exemption and is also offering to cover the salaries of Hawaii’s 1,800 air traffic controllers at TSA screeners.
“Our solution to the federal government wasn’t just to keep our airports open at full capacity. It was also to make suer we can help our residents who are air traffic controllers and our TSA workers,” said state Transportation Director Ed Sniffen.