A year after wildfires tore through Lahaina, Hawaii, restauranteur Qiana Di Bari is still packing up trash bags, each filled with smoke-damaged belongings, and carrying them out of her home one at a time in a painstaking effort to rebuild.
It’s a ritual that continues to play out across west Maui after the Aug. 8 fires killed at least 102 people and destroyed the former capital of the kingdom of Hawaii.
The home Di Bari shares with her husband, Italian-born Michele, and their daughter, 13, was one of only four on their street to survive the inferno, she said.
Di Bari is one of thousands of residents attempting to rebuild her home and business amid a flurry of instability.
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NBC News spoke with a dozen people affected by the fire and each described experiencing an unrelenting cycle of housing and job insecurity that has compounded their trauma.
Two families said they have bounced from hotel to hotel, their stays extended through FEMA until next year. Others have moved in with relatives to save money. One person left Maui after being priced out of rental units.
The impact of the fire, one of three that erupted on that windy day last summer, has reached beyond the shores of Maui, devastating Hawaii’s tourism economy and costing the state more than $1 billion in lost revenue.
The road to recovery from a massive fire like the one that leveled Lahaina is never quick. Rubble has to be cleared, remains identified and soil and water tested long before any construction can start. Then there are insurance and legal questions.
After a 2018 fire killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, California, it took more than four years for some survivors to receive their insurance payouts. Homes and businesses continue to be rebuilt and new foundations laid.
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Michele and Qiana Di Bari in their restaurant, Sale Pepe.Courtesy Qiana and Michele Di Bari
Today, many Lahaina residents who lost their homes are still displaced as they scramble from one temporary shelter to another.
“Even a year later, people are still in the unknown,” said Jamie Nahoo’ikaika, a host at Di Bari’s popular restaurant near Front Street, Sale Pepe, which burned to the ground. “Everybody is still waiting, and you wonder why it’s taking so long.”
She is counting the days until Sale Pepe reopens so she can go back to work. In the meantime, she and her husband, Jaret-Levi,a Lahaina native and head custodian at King Kamehameha III Elementary, transformed her mother’s garage into a studio for themselves, their 3-year-old son and 9-month-old daughter.
Sale Pepe will reopen in a new location sometime in the fall, Di Bari said, and she intends to rehire a handful of employees, including Nahoo’ikaika.
The Di Baris have stitched together financing for the restaurant through insurance claims, small business loans and a GoFundMe campaign started by their New York-based creative director.
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The Di Baris’ popular restaurant near Front Street, Sale Pepe.Courtesy Qiana and Michele Di Bari
“We wanted to send a message that Lahaina is worth staying for,” said Di Bari, who once managed the hip hop group Tribe Called Quest.
The 12 residents interviewed by NBC News all said they intend to return to Lahaina as soon as they can afford to rebuild their businesses and homes.
“The true thing about Lahaina people is you cannot take Lahaina people out of Lahaina,” Nahoo’ikaika said.
Tourism remains down
The fire not only displaced thousands of people,it threatened to erase the cultural and historic center of Hawaii’s former kingdom and those who inherited its legacy.
The sidewalks and corners where generations of families “talked stories,” as locals say, were wiped out in mere hours.
It also devastated Maui’s tourism-dependent economy and caused more than $6 billion in damage, according to a state report.
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Many tourists postponed or canceled trips to Maui even as local businesses encouraged people to visit areas not impacted by the fire. The cancellations cost Maui $9 million in revenue each day since the fire, according to Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
“Lahaina was one of busiest tracts in all of Hawaii,” said James Tokioka, director of the state’s tourism and economic development department. “It went from that to nothing.”
In all, nearly $10.2 million in grants has been awarded to more than 1,000 businesses in Lahaina, his office said.
A man walks past wildfire wreckage in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 9, 2023.Tiffany Kidder Winn via AP file
Across the island, tourism is still down. The first half of 2024 saw a nearly 24% drop in visitors to Maui from 1.5 million people in 2023 to 1.1 million this year.
Spending slipped from $3.47 billion in the first half of 2023 to $2.64 billion in the same period this year.
Maui’s unemployment rate is higher than neighboring islands at 4.5% compared to 3% statewide.
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Residents remain displaced
A recent survey of Maui residents by the Hawaiʻi State Rural Health Association found that 72% of residents said they were either directly or indirectly impacted by the fire.
Of those who were directly affected, 71% said they cut back on groceries to save money, and 59% said they have moved at least three times since the fire.
“It really punctuates the trauma and the sense of uncertainty,” said Lisa Grove, the study’s lead researcher. “It’s lots of folks who have been there for generations — it’s people with the deepest roots.”
Filipinos comprised the largest share of people living in Lahaina. They settled in the area generations earlier while working at the sugar cane plantations and quickly became the second-largest racial group in the state, according to the 2020 census.
The state, FEMA and other agencies are working to build some 1,044 transitional housing units for the more than 3,000 households displaced by the fire, Gov. Josh Green said last week.
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A $4 billion settlement of more than 600 lawsuits against the state, county and utilities reached last week will help pay for rebuilding.
Despite the progress, Kalama McEwen, whose neighborhood was ground zero for the deadly inferno, said he’s still trying to piece together his life.
His family of seven moved in with his in-laws after their home was destroyed. His businesses, a mechanic shop and a tow truck company, were underinsured and he was unable to recouplosses, he said.
The combined households can add up to more than 20 people on any given day. Sometimes relatives wait in line to use the bathroom and take turns sleeping on the floor. McEwen built a shack in the backyard and ran an extension cord for electricity to create a small, private space, but he said the accommodations are untenable.
A rainbow is seen from Put Kukui mountain over burned cars and buildings in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 13, 2023.Mengshin Lin for The Washington Post via Getty Images file
One of his sons works at a local resort, and he and his wife escape there with their youngest children every few weeks to get a break.
“We were one of the lucky ones,” he said, speaking poolside from the hotel where his son works. “At least we had somewhere to go. We lost everything but we’re still here.”
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Maui resident Cindy Canham worked at Whaler’s Locker on Front Street in Lahaina since 2018, selling rare and collectible items, like hand-carved pocket knives and locally made jewelry. Before that, she worked at a shop across the street for 35 years.
“Lahaina was a loss for everybody on the island,” she said. “Even if you’ve lived here just six months, you’ve got a Lahaina memory.”
She moved to Maui in 1978 from Texas in what was meant to be a summer vacation before starting college. She never left. Canham met her late husband a year later near the historic banyan tree that was nearly destroyed in the fire.
Whaler’s Locker, which opened in 1971, was destroyed in the fire. Although the owner sells items online and at local markets a few times a week, there isn’t enough work to keep Canham on the payroll.
Canham, who lives about 25 miles away in the town of Kihei, wasn’t eligible for federal assistance beyond unemployment benefits because she doesn’t live in Lahaina. Now, for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president, she wonders if she’ll be forced to leave Maui.
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“It was my town,” she said of Lahaina. “Yet I wasn’t considered a fire survivor because I didn’t lose my home. It’s hard for some people to understand what I feel.”
The third-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team had no problem recording its 11th sweep of the season, handling No. 6 BYU 25-18, 25-21, 25-16 tonight at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 6,493 watched the Rainbow Warriors (14-1) roll right through the Cougars (13-4) for their 11th straight win.
Louis Sakanoko put down a match-high 15 kills and Adrien Roure added 11 kills in 18 attempts. Roure has hit .500 or better in three of his past four matches.
Junior Tread Rosenthal had a match-high 32 assists and guided Hawaii to a .446 hitting percentage.
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UH hit .500 in the first set, marking the third time in two matches against BYU it hit .500 or better in a set.
Hawaii has won seven of the past eight meetings against the Cougars (13-4), whose only two losses prior to playing UH were in five sets.
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Hawaii has lost six sets all season, with five of those sets going to deuce.
UH returns to the home court next week for matches Wednesday and Friday against No. 7 Pepperdine.
Hawaiian Airlines’ passengers are back in federal court trying to stop something most people assumed was already finished. They are no longer arguing about whether they are allowed to sue. They are now asking a judge to intervene and preserve Hawaiian as a standalone airline before integration advances to a point this spring where it cannot realistically be reversed.
That approach is far more aggressive than what we covered in Can Travelers Really Undo Alaska’s Hawaiian Airlines Takeover?. The earlier round focused on whether passengers had standing and could amend their complaint. This court round focuses on whether harm is already occurring and whether the court should act immediately rather than later. The shift is moving from procedural survival to emergency relief, which makes this filing different for Hawaii travelers.
The post-merger record is now the focus.
When the $1.9 billion acquisition closed in September 2024, the narrative was straightforward. Hawaiian would gain financial stability. Alaska would impose what it described early as “discipline” across routes and costs. Travelers were told they would benefit from broader connectivity, stronger loyalty alignment, and long-term fleet investments that Hawaiian could no longer fund independently.
Eighteen months later, the plaintiffs argue that the outcome has not matched the pitch. They cite reduced nonstop options on some Hawaii mainland routes, redeye-heavy return schedules that many readers openly dislike, and loyalty program changes that longtime Hawaiian flyers say diminished redemption value. They frame these not as routine airline integration but as signs that competitive pressure has weakened in our island state, where airlift determines price and critical access for both visitors and residents.
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What is different about this filing compared with earlier debates is that it relies on developments that have already occurred rather than on predictions about what might happen later.
The HA call sign has already been retired. Boston to Honolulu was cut before competitors signaled renewed service. Austin’s nonstop service ended. Multiple mainland departures shifted into overnight red-eyes. And next, the single reservation system transition is targeted for April 2026, a process already well underway.
Atmos replaced both Hawaiian Miles and Alaska’s legacy loyalty programs, and readers immediately reported higher award pricing, fewer cheap seats, no mileage upgrades, and confusion around status alignment and family accounts. Each of those events can be described as aspects of integration mechanics, but together they form the factual record that the plaintiffs are now asking a judge to examine in Yoshimoto v. Alaska Airlines.
The 40% capacity argument.
One of the more interesting claims tied to the court filing is that Alaska now controls more than 40% of Hawaii mainland U.S. capacity. That figure strikes at the core of the entire issue. That percentage does not automatically mean monopoly under antitrust law, but it does raise questions about concentration in a state that depends exclusively on air access for its only industry and its residents.
Hawaii is not a region where travelers have options. Every visitor, every neighbor island resident, and every business traveler depends on our limited air transportation. The plaintiffs contend that consolidation at that scale reduces competitive pressure and gives the dominant carrier far more leverage over pricing and scheduling decisions. Alaska says that competition remains robust from Delta, United, Southwest, and others, and that share shifts seasonally and by route.
Competitors reacted quickly.
While Alaska integrated Hawaiian’s network under its publicly stated discipline strategy, Delta announced its largest Hawaii winter schedule ever, beginning in December 2026. Delta’s Boston to Honolulu is slated to return, Minneapolis to Maui launches, and Detroit and JFK to Honolulu move to daily service. Atlanta also gains additional frequency. Widebodies are appearing where narrowbodies once operated, signaling Delta’s push into higher capacity and premium cabin layouts.
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Those moves complicate the monopoly narrative. If Delta is expanding aggressively, one argument is that competition remains active and responsive. At the same time, Delta filling routes Alaska trimmed may reinforce the idea that structural changes created openings competitors believe are profitable, and that markets respond when gaps appear.
What changed since October.
In October, we examined whether the case would survive dismissal and whether passengers could refile. That moment felt more procedural than what’s afoot now. It did not alter flights, fares, or loyalty programs.
This filing is different because it is tied to post-merger developments and seeks emergency relief. The plaintiffs are asking the court to prevent further integration while the merits are evaluated, arguing that each added step toward full consolidation this spring makes reversal less feasible as systems merge, crew scheduling aligns, fleet plans shift, and branding converges.
Airline mergers are designed to become embedded quickly, and once those pieces are fully intertwined, unwinding them becomes exponentially more difficult, which is why the plaintiffs are pressing forward now rather than waiting any longer.
The DOT conditions and the defense.
When the purchase of Hawaiian closed, the Department of Transportation imposed conditions that run for six years. Those conditions addressed maintaining capacity on overlapping routes, preserving certain interline agreements, protecting aspects of loyalty commitments, and safeguarding interisland service levels.
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Alaska will point to those commitments as evidence that consumer protections were built into the core approval. The plaintiffs, however, are essentially claiming that those conditions are either insufficient or that subsequent real-world changes undermine the spirit of what travelers were told would remain. That tension between formal commitments and actual experience is at the core of this dispute.
Hawaiian had not produced consistent profits for years.
That is the actual financial situation, without sentiment. Alaska did not spend $1.9 billion to preserve Hawaii nostalgia. It purchased aircraft, an international and trans-Pacific network reach, and a platform it thinks can return to profitability under tighter cost control.
What this means for travelers today.
Nothing about your Hawaiian Airlines ticket changes because of this filing. Flights remain scheduled. Atmos remains the reward program. Integration continues unless a judge intervenes.
However, Alaska now faces a renewed court challenge that points to concrete post-merger developments rather than speculative harm. That scrutiny alone can bring things to light and influence how aggressively future route decisions and loyalty adjustments occur.
Hawaiian Airlines’ travelers have been vocal since the start about pricing, redeyes, lost nonstops, and loyalty devaluation. Others have said very clearly that without Alaska, Hawaiian might not exist in any form at all. Both perspectives exist as background while a federal judge evaluates whether the integration should be impacted.
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You tell us: Eighteen months after Alaska took over Hawaiian, are your Hawaii flights better or worse than before, and what changed first for you: price, schedule, routes, interisland flights, or loyalty programs?
