Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui killed dozens of people and forced evacuations, prompting airlines to increase flights to get tourists off the island.
More Flights Are Being Added
Airline companies such as American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Alaska Airlines all announced expansions of service to assist passengers in making their departures.
Since the flames started, more than 11,000 people have been evacuated by air, according to the state's transportation director, Ed Sniffen. He talked at a press conference on Wednesday, August 9, as reported by NBC News. As a result of hurricane-fueled ablaze, most of the coastal village of Lahaina was destroyed.
Due to high passenger volumes at Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaiian Airlines strongly advised against walk-in visitors without prior reservations.
"While we are currently operating our full schedule and have seats available on flights out of Maui today, we are concentrating our resources on transporting essential personnel and first responders."
According to CNBC, a representative for American Airlines said the company would run all of its planned flights to and from Kahului Airport as usual on Thursday, August 10. The spokeswoman added that they had upgraded one aircraft and scheduled an extra trip to accommodate passengers that needed to leave Maui.
The airline switched certain flights from using Airbus A321s to Boeing 777-200s. The former are narrow-body jets that can seat up to 190 people, while the latter is one of the biggest planes in the inventory, which can seat up to 273 passengers.
South West Airlines recently said it would be expanding its service to include nonstop flights between cities on the Hawaiian islands.
Meanwhile, United Airlines said Thursday that it would not be operating any flights into Kahului Airport, but it would be flying empty planes to Maui to pick up passengers.
There are now a total of nine departures from Maui every day thanks to the addition of Alaska Airlines' "rescue flight" on Thursday. In a statement, the carrier said, "Our main concern is the safety of our employees and guests. We're assessing the addition of more rescue flights to help get people off the island."
State of Emergency in Hawaii
As Hurricane Dora fuels flames throughout Hawaii, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke signed an emergency declaration for Gov. Josh Green. The mandate lasts until August 15.
Hawaii and Maui's North Kohala, South Kohala, Kula, and Lahaina districts have burned hundreds of acres, forcing evacuations and highway and school closures.
The governor authorized the Hawaii National Guard and Major Disaster Fund by declaring a state of emergency. It also authorized emergency alert and warning power for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency director and administrator and activated state personnel to tackle the raging blazes.
