Citing an ongoing scarcity of pilots, one U.S. airline has suspended service to Hawaii for the foreseeable future.

Solar Nation Airways, an ultra-low-cost airline primarily based out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, made the announcement on Monday. Service to the favored vacationer state will stay suspended all through the remainder of 2022, no less than, KHON2 Information in Honolulu reported.

"Because of the present pilot scarcity impacting all U.S. airways, Solar Nation has regrettably elected to droop service to Honolulu, HI (HNL) for the 2022 journey season," Solar Nation mentioned in a press release. "Passengers who had been booked on impacted flights will routinely be refunded to their unique type of fee for his or her reservation."

In an open letter despatched to executives final week, the Southwest Airways Pilots Affiliation, a union representing pilots for the foremost airline, detailed an epidemic of fatigue and exhaustion amongst its members, starting final 12 months when pandemic journey restrictions started to raise. This, worsened by allegedly poor scheduling practices, has been pointed to as the principle wrongdoer for the pilot scarcity. Flights to Hawaii are additionally among the many most grueling throughout the U.S., lasting round 6 hours from the west coast and 13 hours from the east.

sun country airlines hawaii flights
Solar Nation Airways has canceled all flights to Hawaii amid the continued pilot scarcity within the air journey trade. Above, a Solar Nation Boeing 737 in flight. AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Pictures

"We apologize for any inconvenience this momentary suspension of Honolulu service causes to our clients," the airline's assertion continued. "We're longing for a return of Honolulu service for the 2023 journey season."

Solar Nation clients with beforehand booked journeys to Honolulu, Hawaii, is not going to must take any motion to be able to obtain their refund. They will even be eligible for refunds on associated journey bills, like rental vehicles, lodges, and tickets bought on different carriers, KHON reported. The airline is not going to, nonetheless, be offering further reimbursements past these refunds.

In a press release despatched to KHON, Solar Nation additionally revealed that it is going to be canceling the fuel-intensive long-haul flights to Fairbanks, Alaska, for the remainder of the 12 months.

"Anticipating that we are going to proceed to be operationally constrained by workforce shortages, together with crew, Solar Nation is adjusting our summer season flying schedule to align higher with staffing and plane availability," the assertion despatched to KHON defined. "We're eliminating service to Fairbanks and Honolulu – two long-haul flights that will even save on excessive gas prices. We apologize to our company for the change."

Newsweek reached out to Solar Nation Airways for remark.

Additionally citing pilot shortages, SkyWest Airways introduced final month that it will quickly be suspending flights to 29 smaller cities, together with locations like Decatur, Illinois; Paducah, Kentucky; and Mason Metropolis, Iowa.