HONOLULU -- President Barack Obama is expected to be in the islands for the holidays. The nearly two-week-long vacation may prove costly to some island businesses.

For many local flight schools and air tour operators it has been a difficult economic year. Now, their companies will encounter even more financial turbulence with the president's visit.

Mark Jones prepares planes to take off at George's Aviation. The business heavily relies on flight training for a big part of its income. Those training flights will be largely grounded as part of the safety measures in place during Obama's stay in Windward Oahu as temporary flight restrictions, or TFRs, will be in place.

"Within a 10-mile radius around Kaneohe Bay, only airlines, air am will be able to fly. That excludes the area around Honolulu Airport. There is another restricted area between 10 to 30 miles from Kaneohe Bay," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

"Flight training is not approved of 30 miles of the president. So, effectively that will shut down the flight schools from training," Jones said.

Some helicopter tours and charter flights may be allowed to fly. However, Pat Magie's seaplane tours will be sunk by the restrictions.

"We can't fly tourists. We can't train. We've got an enforced two-week vacation without pay," Magie said.

Why will some flights go up and other not? It comes down to security. The same security you face when you go to the airport.

Tour companies have been told they may be allowed to fly if Transportation Security Administration inspectors check out passengers and aircraft at a central airport location.

"We can't do that. We're on floats. We can't land at the airport. So, they said, 'You can't fly then,'" Magie said.

For many air tour companies, things were just starting to take off after a rough fiscal year. Now, some, like Magie, will face more financial uncertainty after a very costly Christmas.

"We'll probably lose $20,000 to $30,000 out of this," he said.

Air tour companies have already had one meeting with federal agencies over the restricted air space. Some still hope to come up with a solution that will keep them flying and the president safe over the holidays.