Tsunamis have killed more people in Hawaii than any other form of natural disaster, yet basic tsunami education — from signs of an approaching one to what to do when it comes — is severely lacking in the Islands. Located in downtown Hilo on the Island of Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Museum was initially founded 30 years ago to fill that void — a hub for education and awareness that contends “no one should die due to a tsunami.” The museum is filled with photos and videos of tsunamis that have hit Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific, along with a large archive of firsthand interviews with survivors.
Hawaii
Hawaii Airfare Deals Soar Amid Post-Merger Turbulence
As we enter the first full week since Alaska Airlines completed its purchase of Hawaiian Airlines, the landscape of Hawaii air travel has already begun to shift. The beginnings of what future deals and strategies will look like are becoming clearer, and this week is set to be incredibly revealing. Read on for the current airfare savings we found today.
This new reality is a pivotal time in Hawaii travel, akin to when Southwest arrived and began its rapid expansion. Now, we see airlines jockeying for position as they adapt to the merger of Alaska and Hawaiian, alongside the anticipation of Southwest’s next moves.
Alaska/Hawaiian: rapidly establishing dominance.
The Alaska-Hawaiian merger finalized last week has triggered a ripple effect across Hawaii travel. While working towards a single operating certificate will take time (perhaps a year or so), the impact is already being felt.
Alaska Airlines today announced a $1.5 billion financing deal through its MileagePlan frequent flyer program. The funds will, among other things, help pay off debt related to the Hawaiian Airlines acquisition.
In the meantime, Hawaiian Airlines has announced hiring, with noticeable activity here on Kauai, amid signals of the new entity preparing to assert its market presence.
Over the coming months, Alaska/Hawaiian will establish their route and pricing strategies and stake their claim in Hawaii air travel. This could bring many changes as they aim to lead the market.
Southwest Airlines is preparing for major adjustments.
Later this week, all eyes will be on Southwest Airlines as it holds its earnings call, followed by Investor Day on Thursday. It’s widely expected that we will learn which Southwest Hawaii flights will stay and which might be cut, along with other changes that could reveal their evolving strategy.
This will be a significant indicator of their long-term commitment and approach to Hawaii, given their substantial impact since launching service to the islands five years ago.
Legacy airlines: waiting, watching, positioning.
American, Delta, and United Airlines are in somewhat of a holding pattern, waiting to see how Alaska/Hawaiian and Southwest position themselves. The legacy carriers are reassessing their strategies, and we anticipate they will make broader and more decisive moves as this competitive landscape shifts. This comes on the heels of last week’s American Airlines first-class sale, which may have been a way to test the waters and gauge demand in this shifting environment.
Today’s airfare deals: early signals of competition.
We’re starting to see some of the first glimpses of how airlines are positioning themselves in this new phase of Hawaii air travel. Here are some of the most competitive airfares we found available today:
These fares represent a market in flux, with airlines starting to adjust their pricing to stay competitive in the wake of the Alaska-Hawaiian merger. If you don’t see these airfares, they may be gone, as they change rapidly throughout the day.
Conclusion: A new chapter on Hawaii travel starts here.
This is an unprecedented time in Hawaii air travel, and we’re only beginning to see glimpses of how airlines will navigate this landscape. As the Alaska/Hawaiian merger takes shape and Southwest makes crucial announcements later this week, travelers can expect more shifts in fares, routes, and deals. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to track how these changes will unfold.
We found the fares below using Google Flights on September 23 at 11:00 a.m. HST. The fares are one-way and require online booking. They could end at any time.
- San Diego to Maui: $118 on American, Delta, United Airlines.
- San Diego to Kona: $103 on Delta, Hawaiian, Southwest, United Airlines.
- San Diego to Honolulu: $118 on American, United Airlines.
- San Diego to Kauai: $119-$123 on Delta, Hawaiian, United Airlines.
- San Jose to Honolulu: $109 on Alaska, Hawaiian, and Southwest Airlines.
- San Jose to Hilo: $109 on Hawaiian and Southwest Airlines.
- San Jose to Kona: $101-$105 on American, Hawaiian, and Southwest Airlines.
- San Jose to Maui: $114 on Alaska, American Airlines.
- San Jose to Lihue: $129-$133 on Alaska, American, Hawaiian Airlines.
- Los Angeles to Honolulu: $141 on American, Hawaiian, United Airlines.
- Los Angeles to Kona: $129 on Hawaiian, United Airlines.
- Los Angeles to Maui: $134 on American, Delta, Hawaiian, United Airlines.
- Los Angeles to Lihue: $141 on American, Delta, Hawaiian, United Airlines.
We welcome your input!
Photo of Waikiki skyline.
Located in downtown Hilo in a historic art deco building, the Pacific Tsunami Museum fronts Hilo Bay, where past tsunamis devastated the town.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami Museum
Now, it’s at risk of closing its doors for good.
Earlier this month, the Pacific Tsunami Museum laid off all 10 of its employees and suspended operations. Former staff are now volunteering their time to keep the doors open on a reduced schedule.
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“We have several problems,” Walter Dudley told SFGATE. Dudley co-founded the museum with tsunami survivor Jeanne Johnston in 1994 to educate residents and visitors about the natural disaster and to serve as a living memorial to those who lost their lives.
The museum is filled with exhibits, sharing the history of major tsunami events in the Islands and across the Pacific.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami MuseumThe museum’s 100-year-old historic building, which was donated to the organization in 1997, is expensive to maintain. “The AC died and cost us way outside our budget,” Dudley said. “The roof sprung a leak and we used our entire supplemental budget to fix that and clear up mold because, you know, Hilo is on the rainy side.”
Dudley doesn’t want to see the museum close completely. “Sadly, that’s one possibility,” he said. “I mean, we all hope that doesn’t happen, but unless we get some, you know, some serious help for the issues that we do have, that’s the worst-case scenario.”
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The museum needs monetary donations to fix up the building and to pay the staff so that it can reopen. “As the years go by, a lot of survivors who were many of our biggest supporters have passed away,” Dudley continued. “They’re no longer around, and that actually makes our mission all that much important because people tend to forget that tsunamis are a true and present danger in Hawaii.”
The last deadly Hawaii tsunami was in 1975, when an earthquake off the coast of the Island of Hawaii generated large waves within seconds that killed two people. In 1960, a tsunami resulting from a 9.5 Chilean earthquake killed 61 people in Hilo.
The deadliest tsunami to hit Hawaii in modern history was on April 1, 1946, when a magnitude 8.6 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska triggered a tsunami with waves reaching heights of 55 feet. At least 159 people were killed throughout the Hawaiian island chain. The greatest loss of life was in Hilo, where an estimated 96 people died.
On April 1, 1946, in downtown Hilo, people are running from the third wave, estimated to be 30 feet high.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami MuseumBecause there are spans of years between major tsunami events, education is important to remind people of Hawaii’s tsunami history and risks — and to take them seriously.
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“There’s an apathy around knowing and believing it will happen again. And it will happen again. It absolutely will,” Cindi Preller, director of the Pacific Tsunami Museum, told SFGATE. “The earth’s tectonics don’t change. It’s just unpredictable, it’s unknowable. And for the local tsunami, it can arrive in just a few minutes, so it’s really, really, really important that people know nature’s warning signs as well as the official warning signs.”
The Pacific Tsunami Museum’s mission is to educate the public about the dangers of tsunamis and to serve as a living memorial for those who have died.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami MuseumPreller, who is now working as a volunteer alongside her staff, said visitor numbers were fine but building repairs have set them back. “If we were going to really restore this building, that would cost millions,” she said.
Through it all, Preller remains focused on the mission of the museum. She wants to revitalize the space and would like to see a new generation come in and help rebuild and do new things with the exhibits.
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“We need to strategically plan and create,” she said. “We just need to really revitalize and shake things up and create a plan so that we never ever have to shutter again.”
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii nonprofits that provide critical social safety nets are facing economic hardship of their own.
President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is expected to slash federal appropriations, government contracts and grant awards, and heavily impact social services across the state.
Melissa Pavlicek, Hawaii True Cost Coalition, explained, “The community-based organizations that are providing key government services are already struggling to provide those services. Some of their contract prices have not increased in over 10 years. The cost to provide those services is significantly greater. The transportation costs, rent, employees, food, everything has gone up. And to serve the community costs more. So we’re looking to our state policy leaders to help ensure those services are continued.”
To mitigate the potential fallout or disruption of services, nonprofit leaders are working to fill the gaps with the help of lawmakers, private donors, philanthropy, corporate foundations and residents themselves.
Suzanne Skjold, Aloha United Way COO, said, “Whether that’s helping your neighbor, maybe donating to a charity that is losing a program, even getting involved politically, locally, you know, voting matters. Being involved in our legislature matters.”
“The slack really has to be picked up by the state and county governments as well as the private sector,” warned U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, “and so these are gonna be tough times and I’m telling everybody, hey, let’s, not sugarcoat this. We have to be prepared for the unexpected.”
Another concern is legislation that some believe if passed could be used to target progressive nonprofits opposed by the Trump administration.
For now, community advocates are urged to keep calm.
Case said, “The first thing I would advise everybody is not to freak out. That we have been through changes in administration before. That these are core federal programs that within Congress, even a divided and polarized Congress, many, many people from both parties support these programs.”
“We want to make sure Hawaii doesn’t become the kind of place where we lead in a way that’s hateful to others,” Skjold said.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
The National Park Service is warning parents to keep their children close after a toddler ran toward the edge of a 400-foot-tall cliff at Hawaii National Park on Christmas.
The young boy was at the park with his family to view the eruption of the Kilauea volcano. They were in a closed area at Kilauea Overlook when he wandered away from his family before the “near miss.” His mother, screaming, managed to grab him just about a foot away from a fatal fall.
“Park rangers remind visitors to stay on trail, stay out of closed areas and to keep their children close, especially when watching Kīlauea from viewpoints along Crater Rim Trail. Those who ignore the warnings, walk past closure signs, lose track of loved ones, and sneak into closed areas to get a closer look do so at great risk,” the agency warned.
Rangers noted that dangers escalate during volcanic eruptions, as people flock to view the spectacle of lava flowing out of the Earth’s crust. The Park Service urged drivers to slow, and watch out for pedestrians, Hawaiian geese, and switch to low beams when other cars and pedestrians are present.
The eruption, which started on December 23, is now in its second pause, according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. But, it could still restart at any time.
Furthermore, emissions of toxic gas remain high, including particulate matter called tephra. Billions of minuscule pieces of tephra, which include all fragments of rock ejected into the air by an erupting volcano, can be carried on winds for thousands of miles and can cause respiratory issues. Volcanoes also produce dangerous gases, like carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride.
Tephra has blanketed the closed portion of Crater Rim Drive downwind of the lava.
“The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs, and traffic management,” Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh said in a statement.
“Your safety is our utmost concern, but we rely on everyone to recreate responsibility. National parks showcase nature’s splendor but they are not playgrounds,” she said.
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