Hawaii’s last remaining commuter airline has been under fire recently. The reliability is in the tank while their prices are soaring. Despite promises, things haven’t gotten all that better. To cope, Mokulele suspends Hilo service to focus more on its core markets.
As you’ll recall, Mokulele has been scorned by the people that rely on them the most – residents of Lanai and Molokai. Frequently delays and cancelations have upended the lives of people on these islands, causing them to miss critical medical treatments, funerals, doctor appointments, family events, and more. In response, the Airline’s parent company, Southern Air, promised to step things up and even ordered more aircraft. But, apparently, their efforts haven’t been enough.
Mokulele Suspends Hilo Service
Today, Mokulele serves all of the major Hawaiian Islands except for Kauai. But no routes are more important to residents of the islands than those connecting Lanai and Molokai to Oahu. After all, Mokulele is the last airline serving these two islands. That’s why it’s so crucial for them to provide stable, affordable service to them – something they’ve been failing at nowadays. To rectify this, Mokulele suspends Hilo service.
Specifically, the airline will stop flying its sole Hilo route to Kahului on August 1, 2023, to free up aircraft for its Molokai and Lanai services. The Airline has not indicated when it plans to restore this route but says that they do plan on resuming it at some point. It does seem that to compensate, in a way, they are adding one more frequency between Kona and Kahului, too.
What’s ironic about this change is that Southern Airways just got their new 30-seat Saab aircraft and plan to begin using them on two frequencies per day between both Lanai and Molokai, and Oahu.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, that Mokulele suspends Hilo service isn’t that big a deal. Hawaiian Airlines currently operates flights between Hilo and Kahului using their larger, more comfortable, faster Boeing 717s. Of course, they also fly Kahului – Kona, too. Personally, if Mokulele really is struggling to maintain its services to Lanai and Molokai, perhaps they should suspend the Kahului – Kona route as well. They’re the only airline that serves not only Lanai and Molokai but Kapalua and Waimea, too, and those cities MUST be their priority. But I suppose we’ll see what happens.