The owners or operators of about 20 sight-seeing aviation companies and flight schools estimated today that they lost about $200,000 in revenue when their operations were substantially restricted or shut down altogether during President Obama’s Christmas vacation here.

Representatives of the affected companies are asking federal officials to reimburse them for the losses they suffered during the Obama stay from Dec. 23 to Jan. 4.
In addition, members of the newly formed Oahu Aviation Initiative hope to enter talks with the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration to make flight restrictions much less severe the next time Obama visits Oahu while protecting his health and safety at the same time.
Company owners said they were not informed of the flight restrictions until Dec. 19 and many of them had no option but to shut down entirely during the president’s visit.