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On August 28, 2007, the Hawaii Superferry begins operation, transporting people and vehicles between Honolulu, Kahalui, and Nawiliwili. It’s been touted as a good way for families to travel between islands while driving their own car. No longer will you have to fly to another island and rent a car when you’re there.

However, this convenience comes at a price. I’m going to compare the cost of travelling between islands for a family of four via both the Hawaii Superferry and via one of the big interisland airlines: Hawaiian Airlines. Our hypothetical family of four has two adults, one child aged 7, and another child aged 3. They live in Lahaina, Maui, and are going to visit family in Waianae, on Oahu, for a week. They’ll be leaving Maui on September 22 and coming back on September 30. When they fly, they’ll be renting a compact car from Dollar in Honolulu.

On the Hawaiian Superferry they’ll be travelling on peak days. Luckily they’re booking more than 14 days in advance, so they get the discount. The tickets cost $54 one way for each parent, and $51 one way for each child. Their car costs $69 one way. For the return trip their tickets will cost $558. These prices do not include the fuel surcharge, which is currently (as of August 22, 2007) 30.8%, so this family’s total ticket price comes to $729.86.

Let’s see what Hawaiian Airlines has to offer. On those dates there are plenty of $39 one-way tickets, so let’s go ahead and book those. With taxes and fees, the total for flights costs $359.20. Booking a Dodge Caliber (seats 5) with unlimited mileage costs $157.04, including all taxes but not including any extra insurance. The total price comes to $516.24.

The Hawaii Superferry costs $213.62 more for this hypothetical family of four.

Just as a silly and pointless exercise, I’m going to compare this with the ferry system I’m most familiar with: BC Ferries. The comparison is a little unfair as BC Ferries don’t have to navigate the open ocean (well, except for the Inside Passage and Discovery Coast routes) and can thus be a little less engineered than the Hawaii Superferry, and the trip is about half as long. Still, let’s take a look at the BC Ferries prices if we want to go between Vancouver and Victoria (via the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route). BC Ferries prices are in Canadian dollars, which are sitting at about 0.94 US dollars.

For the parents, the one-way ticket price is $11.95. For the 7-year old child, the price is $6.40. The 3-year old gets on for free. The car costs $41.85 one-way. Put these all together and the round-trip cost for this family is C$144.30, or currently about US$136. Or about $594 cheaper than the Hawaii Superferry.