Direct flights, sure. But it seems they are still flying to Honolulu and most flights people book to KOA go through Honolulu.

You could always fly to Calgary or Vancouver and get a Westjet flight as they haven't cancelled yet.

That assumes the flight ban between US/Canada is lifted anytime soon, and the 14 day quarantine for arrivals on the islands is lifted.

Haha, the president of Alaska Airlines is a regular rider and from time to time flies over to Hawaii for short riding camp vacations....if they cancelled Seattle to KOA then that must be serious stuff!!!! (fyi, we are college buddies and we did Ironman Canada together in 1995...he went 11:00.22 and only learned to swim 2 years before that...I'll never let him live down his extra 23 seconds in transition).

WestJet’s service is seasonal and doesn’t usually start until November, so that doesn’t help for getting there for Ironman...

IDGAF about Ironman.

Probably just a demand issue.

its all demand issue for sure!

Carnival plans to start cruises again Aug 1; so you could just take a ship over.

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Feels like kinda harsh reply to someone who was likely trying to be helpful in regards to your suggestion. The OP was commenting about flights in the time period up until Sept 30, so a November flight-date is probably not what they were looking for anyway. You can book direct to Kona on United and Alaska right now for dates in November and onward.

It clearly is wishful thinking that there will be a Kona in 2020. One thing that should be up for consideration is whether there really needs to be 2000+ competitors. If people can’t qualify, find flights, etc., let’s just do it with a full pro field, whatever AG qualifiers already made reservations, and the Legacy types that can find a way to make it.

With whatever version of social distancing exists in October 2020, let’s make it work with something like a 1500 person field.

There is no way IM will let that happen. They are a business, 500+ entry fees in addition to purchases from the expo etc is a lot of money. If they can't get enough qualifiers or people from the legacy program they will sell the spots to whoever wants them, there will be no shortage of takers.

I hear you. My point is that there may be some practical limitations, such as this reference to inbound flights. Perhaps races have to be organized with individuals starting x seconds apart from one another. Whatever the limitations on SOP, the race could still go on. WTC always claims this race is a loss leader anyway (I doubt that). A smaller field would still allow for the TV special, publicity, etc.

Sure, maybe. But the OP wasn't about Ironman, just flights to Kona.

To be fair, I always forget that while Westjet offers frequent summer service to Maui, its Kona service is seasonal.

Alaska air has the “option” to suspend all flights to Kona until September 30. Alaska Air has not been flying to Kona since April 6th but is resuming flights to Kona in the PM on May 31 as long as the 14 day quarantine is lifted.

Ironman is not going to have any choice. They may be able to get participants but they aren’t going to be able to get permits and necessary approvals (let alone the 1000 of volunteers required). There won’t be a race in kona on October 10th.

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Word on the ground over there with those involved in producing the event is confirming the Feb. 2021 date previously mentioned.

Did the airlines get some of that bailout $$$?
I thought that they had to continue their routes if they did.

The DOT is empowered to grant waivers to terminate or suspend service upon application from the airline.
They've granted some, they've denied some.

They've, so far, approved all requested waivers to terminate or suspend service to Hawaii destinations. The DOT docket shows filings in support of this from the state of Hawaii.

They're not required to suspend or terminate service if granted the waiver, they're just permitted to do so and not violate the terms of the CARES package.

As was pointed out earlier Alaska is using this (and had already done this) but they are selling flights for summer in the hopes that service can resume without the quarantine in the islands. If that doesn't lift, I'm reasonably certain they'll use this authority to continue suspending service.