New Inter-Island Aircraft for Hawaiian Airlines and Island Air

Are you ready to fly turbo-prop inter-island?

If you’ve been waiting for Hawaiian Airlines upcoming service to Molokai and Lanai, here’s an update related to their new planes. Beyond that, the company is undoubtedly contemplating future replacement of its aging fleet of Boeing 717 inter-island aircraft. There’s more on that too. We also know that Island Air is rethinking its fleet options due to ongoing aircraft reliability issues.

Molokai and Lanai Service

Hawaiian Airlines is awaiting certification to begin its Ohana by Hawaiian service which was scheduled to commence earlier this year. This process has been held up by FAA funding issues associated with government sequestration. When approved, the airline’s three ATR-42 planes will fly from Honolulu on these two routes which they currently do not serve. The Hawaiian Airlines owned planes will be operated by Idaho based Empire Airlines (continue reading for why).

Could ATR-72 be the Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717 replacement?

Hawaiian Airlines has expressed interest in acquiring more turboprops and will undoubtedly assess the viability of flying fuel-efficient ATR planes on multiple routes. Their pilot contracts would require modification to allow for this change however.

Island Air fleet updates

Island Air has recently expressed concerns about the reliability of its fleet of ATR-72’s. These 20 year old plans were acquired used. According to their CEO things have not worked out as expected, “We have an unreliable fleet and are currently working on a re-fleeting plan with the owner.”

We expect to see Island Air’s planes replaced with current model ATR-42 and/or ATR-72 aircraft. Image above is ATR-72-600 interior.