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Weekly jet service to Christmas Island is resuming! Starting then, Air Pacific will provide weekly Honolulu/Christmas Island/Fiji service with a Boeing 737-700 aircraft offering eight seats in Business Class and 110 in Economy. The Air Pacific website currently lists the cost of a Honolulu/Christmas Island round- trip ticket to as $864.70.
The new flight is currently scheduled to depart from Honolulu at noon on Tuesday for the three-hour flight to Christmas Island. The return flight will depart Christmas Island for Honolulu at 7:35 am on Wednesday, arriving at 10:35 am, making it possible to connect back to the US the same day. For anglers coming in from the west, the flight departs Nadi, Fiji, for Christmas Island at midnight on Tuesday, arriving at 6:35 am Wednesday. The flight back to Nadi departs at 4 pm on Tuesdays, arriving in Nadi at 6:40 pm on Wednesday.
The resumption of jet service to and from Christmas Island will cut flying time from Honolulu from five hours down to three. The other major perk of the new service is an increased baggage allowance. The Gulfstream turboprop which had been servicing Christmas Island allowed only 44 pounds (20 kg) total. With the new service, that jumps to 30 kg (66 pounds) of checked baggage for each passenger in Economy and 112 pounds in Business Class, not including a carry-on allowance of 15 pounds in Economy and 30 in Business Class.
It is worth noting that the press release which announced the resumption of jet service went on to say that visas are no longer required for entry into Kiritimati for citizens of most countries around the world. However, an immigration departure charge of $20 (Australian) will be applied. At this writing, one Australian dollar is equal to about 93 cents US.
Your best source of additional information on the new jet service is probably any one of the major agents who control the calendar for the outfitters on Christmas Island: Frontiers for the Captain Cook; Flywater Travel for Christmas Island Outfitters; and Fishabout for The Villages.