Mokulele Airlines is expanding its interisland operations by returning service between Honolulu and Kapalua Airport in West Maui for the first time in three years.
The Kailua-Kona-based carrier said Monday it will offer four flights a day beginning July 1.
Bankruptcies delay the start of charter flights from Illinois
Mokulele Airlines’ planned charter service that would have connected Rockford, Ill., to both Honolulu and London has yet to get off the ground.
Ron Hansen, CEO of Mokulele, had planned to begin weekly nonstop service from Rockford to Honolulu in April and from Rockford to London earlier this month. However, he said Monday that he’s still trying to line up a charter carrier to do the service.
“Out of the five or six wide-body charter operators in the U.S., three are in bankruptcy,” Hansen said.
“Rockford still wants to do the service and wants to work with us on it, but we haven’t found a suitable airline to do the service,” he said. “At this point, there are only two airlines in the country that would be suitable candidates, and they have more business than they know what to do with.” |
Island Air is the only other carrier with scheduled flights between Honolulu and Kapalua.
“As we expand our fleet, we will continue connecting the dots in Hawaii,” Mokulele CEO Ron Hansen said. “The new flights will provide customers with additional options when traveling to and from Maui at affordable prices.”
Mokulele, which has a fleet of four nine-seat Cessna Grand Caravan 208 turboprops, was sold in November by Mesa Air Group Inc., the operator of go!Mokulele, to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Transpac Aviation.
Go!Mokulele dropped the Honolulu-Kapalua run three years ago shortly after go! and Mokulele Airlines formed a joint venture, Hansen said. That joint venture ended with the sale of Mokulele even though the two airlines still have a code-share that allows them to sell each other’s tickets.
Hansen is now interested in expanding Mokulele and said he plans to add a fifth Caravan next month that he bought from a private party. The airline flies about 320 passengers a day.
“We’ll be increasing frequency on the routes we currently serve,” he said.
Mokulele has expanded its work force to 60 employees from 50 since Transpac bought the company, Hansen said. The airline operates about 46 flights a day between Maui, Oahu, Hawaii island, Lanai and Molokai, but doesn’t fly to Kauai, Hansen said.
“For single-engine aircraft, it’s just not practical because you have to be at a certain altitude for that route,” he said.
Hansen said Mokulele is increasing its operations because the company is doing well.
“We’ve hired several more pilots and customer service people, adding people in just about all departments,” he said. “So contrary to the rest of the economy, we’re expanding.”
Hansen said he’s received positive feedback from Mokulele passengers who have enjoyed flying on the smaller planes.
“It’s like a sightseeing trip and they get to shoot some phenomenal pictures,” he said.
