Hawaiian Airlines has announced that it will restart its flight between Honolulu and Tahiti later this summer. This weekly service was suspended back in March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawaiian Airlines have been operating flights to Tahiti since 1987.
Hawaiian Airlines will resume its nonstop weekly service between Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honululu and Faa’a International Airport, Tahiti, every Saturday beginning 7th August.
In a statement, Hawaiian Airlines president and CEO, Peter Ingram said:
“We look forward to reconnecting our islands, but most importantly, reconnecting family members who have not seen each other for over a year. We appreciate the tremendous work by the governments of French Polynesia and Hawaii to open up travel between our regions.”
French Polynesia Authorities have since opened the borders to American’s and for people who have been in the United States for at least 30 days before departure. However strict travel requirements still apply.
In a statement, Governor David Ige says: “Many of Hawaii’s residents have family in Tahiti, and welcoming our guests from French Polynesia to Hawaii is an important step in maintaining the close relationship between our two regions”.
French Polynesia and Hawaii are now open for quarantine-free travel for vaccinated people, however, if they fail to provide proof and are not compliant with the policies then they must quarantine for ten days.
Passengers travelling to Honolulu from Tahiti must take an RT-PCR test from a state-approved testing partner no earlier than 72 hours before departure. Similarly, passengers travelling to Tahiti will also need to submit a negative test report.
Unvaccinated passengers must present the reason for their travel. They must also receive a boarding authorization from the High Commissioner along with confirmation of test results from a state-approved testing partner.
Hawaiian will deploy its Airbus A330-200s configured with 18 lie-flat first-class seats, 68 extra-legroom economy seats, and 192 standard economy seats to operate this weekly service.
French Polynesia President Edouard Fritch says: “I consider that the resumption of air service with the Hawaiian Islands is the recognition by your State of the collective efforts made both by the country’s authorities, by our health personnel but also by our population slowdown of the circulation of COVID-19 in our territory”.
