The Hawaii interisland airfare war reached a new extreme on Monday as go! airlines offered 1,000 one-way tickets for $1 each.
The carrier launched the campaign to mark the first anniversary of its entry into the Hawaii market last June. Both Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines, which had matched most previous go! fare cutting, said they would not offer this one.
"I have been asked many times if the fares are going to get any lower," said the head of go!'s parent company, Mesa Air Group Inc., Jonathan Ornstein. "With today's special fare, I think I can say that's probably unlikely."
The company said the tickets may be purchased online between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. local time on Monday only. They're good for travel through Dec. 15 and must be purchased as part of a round trip.
Repeated attempts by The Associated Press to book a $1 ticket failed Monday. go!'s Web site continually displayed a page saying "A system error has occurred while processing your request" in response to orders. The message added, "Please try again."
go!, a unit of Phoenix-based Mesa, triggered an airfare war when it launched its Hawaii service, selling one-way interisland tickets for $39 - about half the price charged by Hawaiian and Aloha.
It later cut rates for some tickets to $29 and less.
Aloha and Hawaiian have sued Mesa, alleging it is trying to unfairly drive them out of business.
Stu Glauberman, an Aloha spokesman, said his airline would not match the $1 offer and predicted Hawaii's travelers would "stay loyal to homegrown carriers."
"After a year of trying to break into the market, this is clearly an act of desperation," by go!, Glauberman said.
Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said his airline would also not match the offer.