Mokulele halts Kalaeloa flights

Mokulele Airlines, which began the first commercial operation out of Kalaeloa Airport with great fanfare just over two years ago, has pulled the plug on the short-lived experiment after mounting losses.

The state’s third-largest airline, which flies nine-seat Cessna Grand Caravan turboprops, operated its last flight out of the West Oahu airport on Sept. 6. At the time it shut down, the airline was flying four flights a day from Kalaeloa to Hoolehua, Molokai, with a connection to Kahului, Maui, along with the return legs of those flights.

“In 26 months of zero profits I never got close to making a profit, and we tried many different schedules,” Mokulele CEO Ron Hansen said Monday. “Fares were sometimes ridiculously low. Even then, we were unable to get to a point of profitability. As painful as it is, we had to make this decision to stop.”

Hansen, who purchased the Kona-based carrier from go! parent Mesa Air Group Inc. in November 2011, said the company has been profitable for the nearly five years he owned the airline.

“But Kalaeloa was lowering the profits,” he said.

“I wish we hadn’t lost money every month,” Hansen added. “If we started to show an improvement, we would have kept it going, but there didn’t seem to be any indications it was going to change. I don’t really have any regrets about trying to fly from there, but we lost over six figures at Kalaeloa in just over two years. Flying around empty airplanes is not cheap.”

The idea to begin service from Kalaeloa Airport, also known as John Rodgers Field, was more than a year in the making and came to fruition on July 1, 2014. The former Barbers Point Naval Air Station had closed July 1, 1999, and was handed over to the state at that time for use by general aircraft. The facility is used by the Coast Guard as well as other military aircraft and private planes, and also is classified as a reliever airport in case an incoming plane is unable to land at Hono­lulu Airport.

Hansen said Mokulele couldn’t even fill half of its seats despite the attraction of the facility, which cut down commute time to Honolulu Airport, offered free parking and eliminated the need to go through security lines.

“It’s a shame,” he said. “It was such a neat operation and it’s just a shame it didn’t work out.”

Hansen said the only expenses Mokulele had for the infrastructure at the airport was for signs and the ticket counter, among other items. He said the state redecorated and put in some waiting room furniture.

Mokulele, which has a 4 percent interisland passenger market share, has grown extensively in the last five years. It has quadrupled the size of its fleet to 16 aircraft from four and increased its workforce to 290 from 50. The three full-time employees at Kalaeloa Airport have been transferred to Honolulu Airport, which Mokulele also serves. The airline now flies 100 flights a day to eight Hawaii destinations.

Besides Honolulu Airport, Mokulele flies to Kona and Kamuela/Waimea on Hawaii island; Kapalua, Hana and Kahului on Maui; and Hoolehua and Kalaupapa on Molokai.

In addition, Mokulele began operating in May between Imperial County Airport near El Centro, Calif., and Los Angeles under a two-year federally subsidized Essential Air Service Contract and will begin service Oct. 7 between Santa Maria, Calif., and Los Angeles under a community-subsidized contract in which normal airport expenses are being waived.