Mokulele will launch flights in Florida, considers Bahamas

Mokulele Airlines, the third-largest carrier in Hawaii, is expanding outside the state and will begin offering flights later this year between four cities in Florida with future service planned for the Bahamas.

The Kona-based airline will offer 30 daily one-way trips involving Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach and Key West. Mokulele said it hopes to begin service in the Bahamas sometime next year.

Mokulele, which offers more than 100 daily flights to nine airports on Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii island, will use three nine-seat Cessna Grand Caravans for the Florida service that begins Nov. 15.

Chief Executive Officer Ron Hansen said Friday the timing was right to expand beyond the Hawaiian Islands.

“Miles don’t count any more with the Internet and modern communications,” Hansen said. “We have an operating certificate that allows us to operate in all 50 states, and there are many places on the mainland today suffering from no service or poor service. We’ve been watching the Florida situation for a couple of years, and some of the routes there are similar to Hawaii, which makes the Caravan ideal for service. So based on the current situation in Florida, we decided the timing was right. We have the equipment, and so we’ve started an operation in South Florida.”

Hansen expects the Florida service to do well from the start.

“I have consultants that provide statistics on the number of passengers that have been traveling in those markets, and there have been some airlines that have disappeared in the last couple of years, leaving a void,” he said. “That’s what makes us believe there’s definitely a market there, because there was demand previously and airlines disappeared for one reason or another.”

Hansen said that early next year Mokulele will apply for service in the Bahamas, but the first phase of the company’s expansion involves connecting the Florida cities to the state’s east and west coasts.

Mokulele, which Hansen purchased from go! parent Mesa Air Group Inc. in November 2011, has been aggressively expanding since starting off with four Caravans. The airline, which has 4 percent of the interisland market, now has 11 Caravans in its Hawaii fleet with another four aircraft leased out to another carrier on the mainland. Mokulele has 250 employees in Hawaii and plans to add another 50 for its Florida expansion.

Hansen said the gamble he took by beginning the first-ever service out of Kalaeloa Airport on July 1, 2014, is paying off. The airline now serves three airports nonstop from the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station. Mokulele flies to Kahului and Kapalua on Maui and to Hoolehua, Molokai.

“It’s getting better every month, and people are becoming more and more aware that we serve Kalaeloa,” he said. “We’re doing more marketing and advertising in the West Oahu area. It’s a very promising airport. People like it. It’s very simple. There’s no TSA and no delays like you have in Honolulu these days because of traffic and construction.”