Mokulele Airlines is suspending its daily flights between Hilo and Kahului, Maui, and is adding a route to Kona.
The airline said Tuesday that starting Aug. 1, it will “redeploy those aircraft to provide additional service to Molokai and to add a new evening flight between Kahului and Kona.”
Passengers holding reservations after Aug. 1 will be offered refunds or will be reaccommodated by Mokulele on Hawaiian Airlines at no additional cost to the passengers, according to the airline.
Mokulele expanded its service between Kahului and Hilo during the COVID-19 pandemic to help fill the void when Hawaiian Airlines suspended its nonstop service to Kahului.
Now that those flights have resumed post-COVID, Mokulele has seen passenger counts drop in Hilo.
“We are grateful to all the passengers who have flown with us to and from Hilo over the years, and we are especially thankful for all our colleagues – our Hilo ohana – who have been part of our team for so long, “ said Keith Sisson, chief of staff at Mokulele Airlines, in a statement.
He said all Mokulele employees in Hilo have “a standing job offer at any other Mokulele station in Hawaii or any other Southern Airways station on the mainland.”
Demand for service to Molokai and Lana‘i remains high, the airline said. Mokulele is the only airline serving those islands.
“In so many ways, our service in the Hawaiian Islands has been about filling voids when other carriers leave, and that’s a role we are honored to fill,” Stan Little, chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Redeploying these aircraft to Molokai and Lana‘i will help with that need, and it is the right thing to do. The people of Hawaii can rest assured that when other voids in air service occur in the future, Mokulele Airlines will again be there to serve the need to the best of our ability. That remains our commitment.”
In addition to adding flights to Molokai and Lana‘i when needed, Mokulele will add an extra evening nonstop flight between Kahului and Kona.
The current schedule from other interisland airlines have the last nonstop between Maui and Hawaii Island operating before 5 p.m. Mokulele’s evening flight will be an extra nonstop offering for passengers looking for easy, same-day connections.