Hawaiian Air is changing its flight schedule, and from now until late July American Samoa’s only air link to Hawaii and the US mainland will be operating daytime flights instead of night time flights.
The new flight days will be Tuesday and Friday instead of Monday and Thursday. There will be no flight tonight as a result of the change.
Flight 465 leaves Honolulu at 1:45 am Tuesdays and Fridays and arrives in Pago Pago at 6:30 am the same day.
The return flight to Honolulu departs Pago Pago at 8:30 am and arrives in Honolulu at 2:55 pm Tuesdays and Fridays.
According to Hawaiian Air Vice President Ann Botticelli the changes are due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s need to replace the Instrument Landing System at Pago Pago International Airport.
She said, “Because safety is our priority, we will be altering our flight schedule to allow our aircraft to take off and land during daylight hours.”
According to the Hawaiian Air spokesperson, “Parts are expected to arrive later this summer. Until the ILS is repaired, our pilots are required to land our aircraft using visual references.”
The new flight schedule takes effect immediately and will be in place until July 27th.
Hawaiian’s third weekly flight for the summer is also affected by the change.
The spokesman for FAA Western Division, Ian Gregor, said this morning he was still trying to find someone to answer our questions regarding the FAA ‘s need to make changes to the ILS at the local airport.
