Mokulele Flight Service, Inc., doing business as Mokulele Airlines, Inc., is an American commuter airline based in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. The airline operates scheduled inter-island and charter flights primarily among Hawaii's smaller airports.
The airline was founded in 1994 as Mokulele Flight Service by Rebecca "Kawehi" Inaba, and was the first airline in Hawaii to be founded by a Native Hawaiian woman. In 2005 it was acquired by Boyer Industries LLC, headed by former baggage handler turned entrepreneur William "Bill" Boyer Jr., who became the airline's CEO. The company, at this point, had a fleet of three Piper Navajo Chieftains and was only operating charters and sightseeing trips to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and scenic flights around the Big Island and Maui.
In September 2006, the airline announced that it had reached an agreement with Mesa Air Group and its go! division, whereby Mokulele would operate Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft to Kapalua, Molokai, and Lanai under the name go!Express. Service began with flights from Kapalua to Honolulu, Kahului, and Kona on April 17, 2007.Service began for flights to Molokai on July 21, 2007 and flights to Lanai on October 6, 2007.
In January 2008, the airline reached an agreement with Aloha Airlines to provide cargo service to Molokai, Lanai, and Kapalua under the name Aloha Cargo Express beginning in April using a Cessna 208 Cargomaster. Following Aloha's March 2008 bankruptcy, Boyer indicated that he had an agreement with Aloha CEO David Banmiller to work with the buyer of Aloha's cargo operations to continue the Mokulele-Aloha contract. Boyer also stated that the airline would go ahead with cargo operations under its own name, Mokulele Air Cargo.
In October 2008, Mokulele announced that it had reached an agreement with Republic Airways Holdings to provide inter-island jet service. On November 19, Republic's Shuttle America began operating two Embraer 170 aircraft on flights between Honolulu, Lihue, and Kona under the Mokulele name, with additional aircraft and destinations to be added in 2009. As a result of Mokulele's entrance into markets that compete directly with go!, that airline later announced that it would end the go!Express agreement with Mokulele in April 2009.
In December 2008, Mokulele Airlines announced partnerships with two larger North American airlines. The first, with Alaska Airlines, allows members of Alaska's Mileage Plan frequent flyer program to earn and redeem miles on Mokulele flights, with a code-sharing agreement hoped for in early 2009. The second, with WestJet Airlines, provides access to Mokulele's inter-island flights to WestJet's customers, including sightseeing air tours. Each airline was to promote the other on their respective websites.
After running into financial difficulties earlier in the year, the airline announced in March 2009 that Republic had taken a 50% stake in the company. Boyer relinquished the CEO position to Republic vice president Scott Durgin, moving to head the airline's sales and marketing efforts. Republic also assumed control of the Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft operated by Mokulele. A few days later, Mesa announced that the change of CEO allows the airline to terminate its agreement with Mokulele early, and would terminate the agreement effective March 24, 2009 and nullifying Mokulele agreement to operate Caravans as "go! express."
In October 2009, Mokulele announced that it was going to join go! and become go! Mokulele.Peter Forman, an airline historian, said that the merger would cause air fares in Hawaii to increase, since go! and Mokulele no longer compete with one another. The merger agreement includes a joint venture, with 75% of the joint venture owned by Mesa and 25% owned by Mokulele shareholders.
In November 2011, Mesa Air Group announced that it had sold the go! Mokulele turboprop operation, operated by Mokulele Airlines, to Scottsdale, Arizona-based Transpac Aviation Inc. go!Mokulele's turboprop services continued to be operated by Mokulele under a code share agreement. On Friday, December 9, Mokulele grounded its fleet in conjunction with an internal record-keeping audit. Flights resumed the following Monday.
In December 2011, the airline unveiled plans to begin operating a charter service from Honolulu to Rockford, Illinois and London. When the service was approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation the following month, the schedule showed a Boeing 767-200ER leased from Air Transport International will operate the flights, with the Honolulu to Rockford segment beginning on April 13, 2012, and the Rockford to London segment starting May 4.On April 8, the airline delayed the start of service until at least October.
In early 2012, Mesa Air Group announced it would rebrand its jets operations back to the go! name as the name go!Mokulele and Mokulele was causing some brand confusion among the two companies. The airline also abandoned its non-turboprop charter plans so it could focus on service in the isles.
In April 2012, the airline started operating daily service between Maui and Lanai. In July 2012, the airline returned to Kapalua Airport in West Maui, with flights from Honolulu to Kapalua twice per day.
In October 2012, the airline brought a new city to the network, Hana, located on the far east side of Maui. The flights operate twice a day under a partnership with the owners of the resort in Hana. The airline also outsourced eight flights a day to Schuman Aviation - Makani Kai, to bring additional frequencies on the Maui - Kona route, bringing the total daily flights to fifteen on peak days, each way.
When Island Air announced plans to retire their fleet of Dash 8 aircraft, Mokulele jumped on the opportunity and ordered additional Caravans to fill the gap. Mokulele presently flies 8 to 9 flights a day between West Maui and Honolulu, as well as 2 new flights linking West Maui to Kona, and a flight for tour operators to Hana, allowing customers on the "Road to Hana" tour to fly back to West Maui rather than drive. Passengers who flew to Hana can then drive back on the tour.
On May 23, 2013, the airline bid on Essential Air Service to Kamuela/Waimea, Hawai'i. The airline has proposed 2 flights a day to Honolulu for an annual subsidy of $584,000 compared to over $900,000 bid by Makani Kai. The airline is hoping to secure a 4-year contract and has proposed decreasing subsidies for each year of service. The US DOT awarded the route to Mokulele on July 2, 2013 with flights to Kahului expected to start in late summer.
Kamuela services started on time and with a completely full flight on September 21. The current plans of the airline are to continue phasing out the older Cessna Grand Caravan 208B aircraft with new, factory delivered Cessna Caravans. Mokulele Airlines is the largest passenger operator of the Cessna Grand Caravan 208EX, offering higher payload and a brand new Garmin 1000 "glass cockpit" software suite.
In March 2014, Mesa Airlines announced the shut down of its go! division in Hawai'i - ending the codeshare relationship between Mesa and Mokulele, allowing the airline to now operate additional flights that were previously prohibited by the codeshare agreement. On April 11, 2014, Mokulele began commuter flights linking Honolulu and Kahului Airport in Maui. The airline also began working with Hawai'i Department of Transportation and Oahu County officials on linking Kahului and Barbers Point/Kalaeloa/John Rodgers Field in West Oahu, and on May 13, 2014 confirmed that flights would begin on July 1.
In April 2014, the airline operated 117 inter-island flights a day.
Starting in February 2015, Mokulele Airlines has entered into a one-year wet-lease agreement with Sun Air to provide up to 4 aircraft and crews for Sun Air's EAS Pittsburgh flying.
In May 2015, Mokulele and officials publicly announced plans to launch new service in Florida scheduled to begin on November 15, 2015; but it withdrew its plans, claiming that it needed more time to conduct research and that it had been threatened by competitor Silver Airways.
On November 26, 2015, Mokulele Airlines changes its ICAO code to MHO, and its callsign to "Mahalo" for its Hawai‘i flight operations. 2016 also saw the company start a brand-refresh and new services in California.
In February 2016, Mokulele Airlines re-applied for Essential Air Service subsidized service for Imperial County Airport and Visalia Municipal Airports in California after SeaPort Airlines terminated service in late January 2016. The council representing Imperial County selected Mokulele, but Visalia voted instead to shift from EAS to request $3.7 million from the Community Flexibility Pilot Program, which pays cities to forego subsidized air service for 10 years in favor of a direct payment of two years’ worth of subsidies. Officials expressed concern over low ridership and a pilot shortage, and Mokulele proposed using the same type of aircraft that SeaPort Airlines flew.
In March 2016, Mokulele announced that it is considering adding unsubsidized air service between Visalia and Los Angeles International Airport.
Mokulele begun service to Imperial and Los Angeles starting May 23. with service to Santa Maria to start on October 10th. Inyokern, California appears to be next on their radar, with service to start in early 2017 from LAX.
As of May 2016, the Mokulele Airlines fleet included the following aircraft:
- Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 4
- Cessna 208EX Grand Caravan 11
The airline has been phasing out all older Cessna Grand Caravan 208B aircraft in favor of new, factory-built aircraft that have the updated glass cockpits. Mokulele has placed the standard Cessna 208 aircraft on the mainland, with 3 operating on behalf of Sun Air International out of Pittsburgh. The Embraer 170 aircraft operated by Shuttle America have since been returned to the mainland.
Mokulele Airlines operates flights to the following destinations within the state of Hawaii:
Kailua-Kona,Waimea-Kohala,Hana,Kahului,Kapalua,Hoʻolehua,Kalaupapa,Honolulu,Lanai City, Hawaii,
Mokulele Airlines also operate between the following destinations within California:
- Imperial,Imperial County Airport
- Los Angeles,Los Angeles International Airport
- Santa Maria,Santa Maria Public Airport
On October 21, 2013, Mokulele Flight 1770 made an emergency landing on the Piilani Highway on Maui after its engine failed while en route from Kahului Airport to Waimea-Kohala Airport on Hawaii. There were no injuries.The aircraft was moved to a parking lot adjacent to the highway during the NTSB investigation and was later dismantled.
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