Traveling by air to and from Kapalua, Maui, will soon become more limited with one of two airlines that fly to the West Maui airport announcing it will end service there on May 31.
Island Air announced plans to shift its Maui service to the island’s main airport in Kahului.
The regional carrier said it will launch flights between Kahului and Honolulu, Lanai and Kauai on April 15.
Flights between Kapalua and Honolulu will cease May 31, and flights between Kapalua and Molokai will cease April 30, according to the carrier’s flight schedule.
The change marks a return to serving Kahului for Island Air, which quit flying there in December.
Stopping flights to Kapalua was necessary because Island Air is replacing its fleet of smaller Dash 8 aircraft with larger ATR 72 planes that are too big to land on Kapalua’s relatively short 3,000-foot runway.
"We regret that we will no longer serve Kapalua," Les Murashige, Island Air’s president, said in a statement Friday. "We are pleased that we can expand service to Kahului with the addition of our new ATR 72 aircraft."
Island Air’s withdrawal will leave Mokulele Airlines as the only scheduled carrier flying to Kapalua, which is convenient for travelers staying at Kapalua and Kaanapali resorts but handles just a fraction of air travel to Maui.
Kapalua serves about 300 passengers per day on average compared with about 7,000 per day at Kahului, according to state Department of Transportation statistics.
Island Air announced last month its general intent to increase service to all major islands as part of a new vision by Larry Ellison, the billionaire CEO and co-founder of software giant Oracle Corp. who bought the airline for an undisclosed price in February after his purchase of 97 percent of Lanai last year.
Island Air, which was established in 1980 to provide air service between Kauai’s resort area of Princeville and Honolulu, had struggled under its previous owner, Novato, Calif.-based Gavarnie Holding LLC led by Charles Willis.
Last May, the airline was operating 352 weekly flights among airports on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Kauai and Lanai. That compares with 224 weekly flights at present.
A key to the expansion plan involves Island Air replacing its 37-seat Dash 8s with 64-seat ATRs. The airline put its first ATR into service last month, and is phasing out use of two Dash 8s.
Besides the Kapalua-Kahului change, Island Air appears to be ramping up service over the next few months to Lanai while cutting back service to Molokai, according to flight schedules posted on the carrier’s website.
The number of daily arrivals and departures on Lanai to and from Honolulu are scheduled to rise to 14 on July 1 from the current 10.
Arrivals and departures on Molokai to and from Honolulu are scheduled to be reduced to six a day on May 1 from 12 a day presently, while two flights a day between Molokai and Lanai are scheduled to end at the same time.
