HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaiian Airlines Inc.'s passenger count soared more than 25 percent in April despite airfares that have nearly doubled because of increased demand and record fuel prices.

The Honolulu-based airline was bolstered by the abrupt shutdowns of ATA and Aloha airlines, two major carriers between Hawaii and the West Coast. Aloha ended its passenger operations at the end of March while ATA ceased flying April 2.

Hawaiian on Monday said it carried a record 718,767 passengers, an increase of 25.5 percent over April 2007 when it transported 572,613 people.

Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said the increase in business was about what was expected by the company, which added about 28 new flights a day, or about 6,000 additional seats during the month.

"The fact that our load factor remains essentially flat, indicates that was right amount of capacity," he said. "We met the demand."

Hawaiian reported a load factor of 88 percent compared with 87.8 percent in April 2007.

For the first four months of the year, Hawaiian transported 2,451,763 passengers, up 9 percent from the 2,247,429 during the same period last year.

Hawaiian was able to add capacity without adding aircraft. The company expanded its schedule by adding flights earlier and later in the day and using its larger Boeing 767 aircraft to service the popular Maui-Honolulu route.

Hawaiian also launched service between Hawaii and the Philippines on April 14 but attributed the bulk of the increase to interisland traffic.

Besides expanding its flight schedule, the airline had a busy month in April, adding 154 new employees and trying to acquire additional aircraft.

In April, Hawaiian also settled its lawsuit with Mesa Air Group Inc. over the Phoenix-based company's misuse of confidential and proprietary information obtained during Hawaiian's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2004.

Hawaiian received $52.5 million in damages from Mesa, which operates the interisland go! airlines.

Hawaiian, which operates a fleet of 29 aircraft, said it wants to acquire more plans to add flights and to provide more flexibility by having more backup aircraft available.