HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Planning to trip to the mainland this summer? Aviation expert Peter Forman warns the price of airline tickets is likely on the rise.
"I think overall, we're going to look at higher prices going forward due to some factors, mostly having to do with the supply of aircraft," Forman said. "The airlines haven't been able to add aircraft at the rate they wish they could. So consequently, fewer seats mean higher prices per seat."
Forman doesn't think fuel prices are influencing airfare too much at the moment.
"Fuel is going to be less of an issue and availability of airplanes versus the number of travelers that's going to be a bigger issue," Forman said.
Jet fuel, which is roughly a third of all airline costs, does seem to be evening out after a huge spike in price in June of 2022. It then dipped and increased slightly again last September according to the US Energy Information Administration.
No matter the reason, travelers like Vivienne Luangrath said they do see a difference.
"The price has definitely gone up and I haven't traveled far," Luangrath said. "I'm only flying to LAX and last year. I flew to Vegas and the price increase was a lot."
"How much has it gone up?" asked KHON.
"I'd say maybe about three to four hundred dollars difference," Luangrath responded.
Edgar Ugaed, a Wahiawa resident traveling with his family said the price is pretty steep.
"There's five of us, so that's a big amount of money for us," Ugaed said. "To pay like $500 is like nothing for airfare."
To save some money, Ugaed spent extra time doing research and watching prices until they dipped. Then he reserved the tickets and used his mileage to offset the cost.
Even with the increase in the price of airline tickets, more visitors will be heading to the islands.
According to the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, the number of people expected to fly to the islands between June and August is up 2.6% from last year but DBEDT statistics show that's still below pre-pandemic numbers.