Two Hawaii airlines with current problems plus nine others long gone, including Aloha Airlines.
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44 thoughts on “What Went Wrong With All The Airlines of Hawaii”
Two Hawaii airlines with current problems plus nine others long gone, including Aloha Airlines.
In the ’80s through the early ’90s, Molokai did have a lot of air service. Between Hawaiian’s DHC7s, Royal Hawaiian and Reeves’ C402s, and Princeville’s DHC6s, there really was a lot of capacity between Molokai and the rest of the State. The crash near Halawa Valley by a Princeville DHC6 started the decline of capacity.
Hawaiian phasing out their DHC7 fleet and service to Kapalua was a significant blow to capacity as well. Flying DC9-50s into Molokai and Lanai was somewhat terrifying.
After Air Molokai went under due to loss of their hangar space in Honolulu, Panorama Air Tour started flying to Molokai with their PA31s for a short time. There was a general collapse of the fixed-wing air tour business after a couple of accidents.
Corporate greed is the cause of the demise of Hawaii’s airlines, along with their starting pricing-wars to create monopolies to cement increased profits to feed this greed. Also, my mother-in-law worked for Royal Hawaiian for 21 years (yes, 21 years), from the day they opened until they day they closed; and her only notice in 1986 that Royal was closing down, and that her employment was being terminated, was a note: “Don’t come into work tomorrow”. Now that’s corporate gratitude for you. Retirement plan? Right. :-0. By the way, The Super Ferry has no chance here in Hawaii as the airline lobbyists make sure that it won’t get State approvals…ever.
Bring back the Super Ferry!
Most issues were poor management, funding, and the need for highly skilled employees (Pilots & mechanics). Most of the other employees were very good.
Off Island mechanical work/certification cost to much.
You forgot Air Hawaii who flew Cessna 404 Titans. They went bankrupt in 1982. You also forgot Reeves Air which flew in the 80s using Cessna 402a and 402b aircraft. I flew for both of those carriers and had the privilege of flying news crews over Kilauea volcano with Reeves Air when it started the eruption that continues to this day.
I enjoyed remembering the different airlines in your article;the time they were around,the eras -I think that’s why I am now loyal to Hawaiian,experiencing all these airlines come and go,
Your comment regarding Aloha Air: “…as little as $29 per flight. We still recall when we could arrive at the airport 10 minutes before a flight and walk right onto the plane. Those were the days!” reminds me also of boarding the plane right from the tarmac. I long for those days and remember them fondly (especially after we found out on our last trip, the night before we left Lihue, our rental car couldn’t be returned until 8am and our flight boarded before that).
I Loved Aloha Airlines while I lived in Hawaii, used it to island hop all the time for weekend adventures away from Maui.
Every one of these defunct “airlines” (a misnomer in some cases) had similar (the same?) problems — save Aloha — to wit:
1. Most were not ready for prime-time (equipment, infrastructure,customer service, ticketing, baggage xfer, etc.) and were seen by some operators as a “quick-buck” scheme — for themselves.
2. Below average pilot skill levels reflected in experience/hiring/training, same for maintenance troops and record keeping — basically low salaries across the board (except for the “front office” in some cases)
3. Lesser quality and older aircraft (in some cases — just plain (plain?) Old which creates all kine’ other problems — you really do get what you pay for..
What I miss most (since we will always have airlines) is the doomed, persecuted Interisland Ferry.
Imagine, bringing your car to go see auntie on the outer island rather than the hassle of finding a rental!
An island community needs ferries!