MOKULELE AIRLINES LAUNCHES INAUGURAL FLIGHT FROM KAHULUI TO HONOLULU

(Photos and story By Wendy Osher © 2009)

Mokulele Airlines’ inaugural Flight 215 from Kahului Airport marks the beginning of expanded service for the interisland carrier. The Airlines’ Kahului Station Manager Ipo Mossman said the Kahului to Honolulu route helps to meet passenger demands following the exit of Aloha Airline’s passenger service nearly one year ago. “Since we lost that (Aloha Airlines Passenger) service within the state of Hawaii, Mokulele is playing an active role in our community. The Honolulu to Maui segment and Maui to Honolulu is a very big segment for us.” The Embraer jets have a capacity to hold 70 passengers and the initial flight was at capacity. “We are looking forward to having very good load factors and we’re going to work hard to get that,” said Mossman. Mokulele already flies to Honolulu via Maui’s Kapalua route using smaller Cessna propeller aircraft. “The caravan service does some servicing to Lanai, Molokai, as well as Kapalua and Hana. And so to add to that, we just started the jet service. For the jet service we have five flights a day, so we have some very good coverage,” said Mossman.

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