United Airlines: Hilo’s Last Nonstop Route To The Mainland To End

by SharonKurheg

United Airlines has filed plans to end the only nonstop flight between Hilo, HI and the U.S. mainland.

The route has been running since 2011. The discontinuation of the flight between Hilo International Airport (ITO), located on the east side of the Island of Hawaii, and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), will go into effect on January 7, 2023.

United currently flies between ITO and LAX 5 times per week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays:

Flight From / to ETD ETA
UA 1004 Los Angeles (LAX/KLAX) 7:08 p.m.
UA 1004 Hilo (ITO/KITO) 9:47 p.m.
Flight From / to ETD ETA
UA 1706 Hilo (ITO/KITO) 11:07 p.m.
UA 1706 Los Angeles (LAX/KLAX) 7:20 a.m. +1

Once that route is gone, travelers who prefer to fly out of ITO will have to take an inter-island flight to Kahului, Maui or Honolulu via Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines or Mokulele Airlines. If they want to go to the mainland, they’ll need to make a connection.

“We regularly adjust our schedule and continue to be a leader in service to Hawaii from the continental U.S., including offering the most service to Kona of all U.S. carriers,” a United Airlines spokesperson said.

Well, that’s nice, but Kona is about an hour and a half drive from Hilo.

Other airlines that also service KOA include Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines, among others.

United says the ITO-LAX route is not popular and they’re planning to end it due to low demand.

Feature Image (cropped): Bill Rand / Wikimedia / CC-BY-2.0

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2 comments

Mike R October 18, 2022 - 4:15 pm

“Once that route is gone, travelers who prefer to fly out of ITO will have to take an inter-island flight to Kahului, Maui or Honolulu via Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines or Mokulele Airlines. If they want to go to the mainland, they’ll need to make a connection.”

Or drive to Kona, like you state later. This early misinformation mis-characterizes the story.

Reply
SharonKurheg October 18, 2022 - 4:16 pm

Operative words: “…travelers who prefer to fly out of ITO.” 😉

Reply

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