‘Ohana expands to Maui with neighbor island connections

Startup turboprop operation ‘Ohana by Hawaiian is expanding to Maui.

Hawaiian Airlines, which has contracted Idaho-based Empire Airlines to run ‘Ohana using 48-seat ATR-42 twin-engine aircraft, will begin offering daily flights next month from Kahului to Molokai, Kona and Hilo. ‘Ohana also will increase its frequency for Honolulu-Molokai flights during the summer period to four round trips a day from three.

Beginning July 8, ‘Ohana will fly one round trip a day between Kahului and Molokai and two daily round trips between Kahului and Kona. The additional Honolulu-Molokai round trip also will start on that day.

‘Ohana will offer one daily round trip between Kahului and Hilo beginning July 10.

"Since launching ‘Ohana by Hawaiian earlier this year, we’ve received overwhelmingly positive response and robust demand for more service between the islands to connect our communities," said Hadden Watt, managing director of ‘Ohana. 

‘Ohana debuted in March when it began offering three daily flights between Honolulu and Molokai and two daily flights between Honolulu and Lanai.