Two airlines have submitted competitive bids to provide scheduled and subsidized service for Lānaʻi.
Mokulele Airlines, which currently serves as the community’s primary air carrier, has proposed a subsidy of between $3.5 and $4 million under several operating scenarios. Pacific Air Charters requested about $8 million to provide scheduled service. Both airlines are proposing 42 weekly round trips between Lānaʻi and Honolulu, and 21 weekly round trips to Maui.
Pacific Air Charters is an Oʻahu-based company started in 2003 by a group of airline pilots who wanted to teach their kids how to fly, said Pat McNamee, the company’s chief operating officer and director of operations. They are getting four twin-engine nine-seat Tecnam Traveler aircraft. McNamee said the planes are safer over the ocean than single-engine aircraft.
“We have the perfect airplane,” he said. “We are the most experienced pilots. I've been an airline pilot, I just retired from United Airlines after 37 years. I've been all over the world. And I've been operating air charter services like this since I was 18 years old in Oregon. We’ve got the financing in place … We've paid cash for all four of them.”
Pacific Air Charter’s Essential Air Service (EAS) proposal comes with multiple letters of support, including one from Maui Mayor Richard Bissen. He wrote that he stood behind the company’s “commitment to providing reliable transportation options for our community.”
Mokulele Airlines is operated by mainland-based Southern Airways. They primarily operate single-engine nine-seat Cessna Caravan aircraft.
Mokulele Chief of Staff Keith Sisson said they are ready to continue service to Lānaʻi.
“We want to stay at Lānaʻi and keep building what we built and use our scale and size in Hawaiʻi to provide better service to the people of Lānaʻi and just do so without having to increase fares in a situation where we are now with global inflation,” Sisson said.
“This would allow us to continue the service without having to pass along fare increases to the population that uses the service now between Honolulu and Lānaʻi in between Maui and Lānaʻi,” he continued.
Mokulele is also offering a subsidy-free option on their new Tecnam aircraft but they say the luggage capacity is not as great as the Caravans.
The EAS program, under the U.S. Department of Transportation, ensures small or underserved communities maintain adequate transportation to larger hubs. Though Lānaʻi has qualified as an EAS airport since 1983, no airline has ever requested a subsidy until now.
In December, Mokulele Airlines, which serves as the community’s primary air carrier, filed a notice of termination with the U.S. DOT. In its letter, the company said it was operating the route at a loss and could no longer do so without a subsidy. That triggered a federal request for proposals for airlines under the EAS.
Full proposals can be read here.
The U.S. DOT is accepting comments on the Lānaʻi EAS proposals until May 3. After that, the department will select an airline for the contract, which generally lasts two years.
Mokulele is required to continue flying to Lānaʻi until a contract is selected.
