Alaska says Aloha

A view of the sun setting poolside from the Grand Wailea Resort in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii. Alaska Airlines is launching new nonstop service from Portland to Maui, starting Friday. (Files/The Associated Press)

Southwest Washington residents looking for a tropical getaway will have a new option to consider when Alaska Airlines begins service between Portland International Airport and Maui on Friday.

Initially, flights are planned three days a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with daily service beginning Aug. 7, said Brad Walker, Alaska's managing director of sales and leisure marketing.

"We have a lot of frequent fliers in the Portland-Vancouver market," Walker said. "Many of these travelers want to go either to Mexico or to Hawaii. We see our new connection as the right thing for our customers and a good business move."

Until now, Alaska only offered connecting flights to Hawaii through Seattle.

Alaska first announced the nonstop PDX-Maui connection in April and said service would begin in August. But the changing economy and Mexico's run in with swine flu forced Alaska to reduce its operations to Mexico, Walker said. That freed up aircraft to start the PDX-Hawaii service a month sooner.

"Out goal is to stimulate our Portland-Vancouver customer base with good pricing," Walker said. "We think this is a good time to kick back, go on a vacation."

Alaska is offering the new flights, priced one-way at $169 or $338 round trip, plus tax through Nov. 1.

Maui flight information is available at alaskaair.com or by calling 800-ALASKAAIR (252-7522).

The flights depart Portland at 9:50 a.m. and arrive at Kahului Airport at 12:45 p.m. Hawaii time. The return flight will depart Maui at 1:45 p.m. Hawaii time arriving at 10:15 p.m. Pacific time.

Hawaiian Airlines also offers daily direct flights between Portland and Maui with round-trip ticket prices a couple of hundred dollars higher than Alaska's introductory fares. Northwest Airlines and United Airlines offer flights from Portland to Honolulu.

Alaska, along with other airlines, is looking for ways to boost air travel in the face of the economic downturn. Alaska passenger traffic at PDX is down 20.3 percent this year through May when compared to the same five-month period in 2008. Its sister airline, Horizon Air, has seen an 18 percent drop in PDX passenger traffic.

"High fuel prices last year affected our operations," Walker said. "We cut capacity throughout the system in the face of gas costs, then the recession hit. What you're seeing now is that we're picking it back up, but doing it responsibly," he said.

Alaska began nonstop service between PDX and Calgary in June.