Mokulele and Go! – Unlikely Partners Join Forces
Oct 13, 2009
7 Comments
Hawaii returned to an inter-island airline duopoly today. This is only further testimony to just how dismal and unsustainable the Hawaii travel market has become. In a press release, Mesa (Go!) and competitor Republic (Mokulele), announced that they are joining forces.
What this likely means, however, is that Mokulele is leaving Hawaii.
Here’s what we know about the Mokulele and Go partnership:
- Routes currently served by Mokulele will be operated by Go!.
- Services. Everything will move to Go!’s CRJ-200 jets rather than the more comfortable and easily ramp-boarding Mokulele jets. As we previously indicated, Republic needs the Mokulele jets on the mainland.
- Mesa will own 75% of the new venture and Republic will own 25%.
- All existing reservations will be honored.
To be determined:
- Pricing. What will the impact of the joint venture have on pricing? Don’t expect it to be anything but bad in the long-term.
- Jobs. Exactly what consolidation and elimination of employees will occur? I anticipate a lot of jobs being lost.
- Agreements. How will mileage and inter-line partnerships will be affected?
- Impact on flight schedules. I’ve heard nothing as to whether Go!’s flight schedule will be modified. If you are holding Mokulele reservations like I am, we’ll need to see how Mokulele flights will translate to Go! flights.
Here is the link to the Press Release.
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That’s a bummer. Not only for the employees that will lose their jobs, but personally, the flights i will be using in November will be smaller and no seat assignment.
These two together will be a strong alternative to Hawaiian.
We will have to wait and see what the consequences will be of this Go -Mokulele merger will be in addition to the less comfortable planes for Hawaii travelers on the Go planes. Maybe the one which will benefit big time from this merger will be Hawaiian Air.
Aloha Pua
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Hi Pua: Hawaiian is definitely laughing at this one.
Hi John: I wish/hope that were the case.
Aloha, Jeff
Prices are going up, up, up and service is coming down, down, down! So I guess there WILL be a “benefit”…tell that to those who’ll lose their jobs and those who’ll be demanded to work more!
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