Go! To Partner With Island Air

Mesa Airlines (Go!’s parent) and Hawaii’s Island Air have just announced a new partnership.

Taking the lead from Republic Airlines, which partnered with Hawaii’s Mokulele Airlines last fall, Mesa announced a tentative code share agreement in which Go! will market Island Air services between Kahului, Hilo and Lihue. They expect to extend that code share agreement once Go!’s prior agreement with Mokulele expires in April.

Mesa CEO Jon Ornstein said “We are delighted to be working with Island Air which has a long tradition of high quality service in the islands…”

From my viewpoint:

Mesa needed a new partner to extend its service into locations not viable with their existing jet service. They also need some local kine credibility, which they have sorely lacked.

Island Air has been unable to compete in the cut-throat Hawaiian inter-island market and needs the support of a larger player that can better feed them passenger traffic.

Both companies are looking at the recent Mokulele and Republic deal and trying to learn what works and what doesn’t in a Hawaii/Mainland business partnership.