Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex DaSilva confirmed to Samoa News that the airline “experienced a delay assigning a crew in Honolulu” for the flight this past Tuesday, and this resulted in a late departure out of the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu.

Family members of two passengers in Honolulu said via email that passengers learned at the airport, hours after checking in, that there was a delay in the flight due to “a crew issue”.

In Pago Pago, the local Hawaiian Air office issued a notice of the delayed arrival and departure out of Pago Pago.

According to DaSilva, the flight departed Honolulu at 8:09am, arriving in Pago Pago at 12:53pm. The flight departed Pago Pago later that same day.

“We sincerely apologize to our guests (referring to passengers) for the delay,” DaSilva told Samoa News on Wednesday, June 6, which was also the same date the airline added its third weekly summer Wednesday flight between Honolulu and Pago Pago.

The extra summer flight is operating during daylight hours - same as Tuesdays and Fridays - through July 27th, arriving at 6:30a.m. and departing at 8:30a.m.

As previously reported by Samoa News, the airline is operating in and out of Pago Pago during the daytime until the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the Tafuna Airport is back in service.

On May 29th, the US Federal Aviation Administration dispatched a crew of technicians to inspect the new antennas for the ILS and FAA said Wednesday that the flight check on the ILS antennas is scheduled for today.