Island Air

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Island Air

IATA WP	ICAO MKU	Callsign MOKU
Founded		1980 (as Princeville Airways)
Hubs		Honolulu International Airport Kahului Airport
Frequent flyer program		Cloud 9
Fleet size		13
Destinations		8
Parent company		Hawaii Island Air, Inc.
Company slogan		Always here to take you there.
Headquarters		Honolulu, Hawaii
Key people		Robert Mauracher (CEO)
Website: http://www.islandair.com

Island Air (officially Hawaii Island Air, Inc., doing business as Island Air) is an independent commuter airline based in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. It operates scheduled inter-island passenger services in Hawaii. Honolulu International Airport on Oahu and Kahului Airport on Maui are its hubs. With approximately eighty-eight daily flights, Island Air is the leading commuter carrier in Hawaii.

The airline maintains code sharing and frequent flyer agreements with Aloha Airlines, Continental Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and United Airlines. It also operates its own frequent flyer program, Cloud 9.

1 History
2 Services
3 Fleet
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

[edit] Princeville Airways

Island Air was incorporated in 1980 by Colorado-based Consolidated Oil and Gas as Princeville Airways. It began scheduled services on September 9, 1980 between Honolulu and Princeville using two DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. It served a regular commuter route between Princeville and Honolulu, primarily for Princeville Resort hotel guests. The Princeville Airways fleet consisted of eight DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.

[edit] Aloha IslandAir

In May 1987, Consolidated Oil and Gas sold Princeville Airways to Aloha Air Group, the parent company of Aloha Airlines. Princeville Airways was renamed Aloha IslandAir and served the growing inter-island commuter needs that Aloha Airlines could not accommodate with its larger jetliners. In June 1992, Aloha IslandAir registered the name Island Air as its trade name.

In 1995, newly renamed Island Air was granted certification by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate larger aircraft to serve the burgeoning commuter market in Hawaii. In April of that year, Island Air took possession of its first thirty-seven seat De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft.

[edit] Hawaii Island Air

In December 2003, it was announced that Gavarnie Holding, LLC would purchase Aloha IslandAir from the Aloha AirGroup, making Island Air Hawaii's third largest independent airline. The purchase was completed on May 11, 2004 and the company was renamed Hawaii Island Air, Inc., although the airline continued to do business as "Island Air." After the purchase, Island Air expanded its business, acquiring more aircraft and flying new routes.

[edit] Services

Island Air operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations (at December 2006): Hilo, Honolulu, Hoolehua, Kahului, Kapalua, Lihue, Kona and Lanai City.

In addition to scheduled service, the airline makes its Dash 8 aircraft available for inter-island charter flights, and has a Challenger 601 business jet available for worldwide charter flights.

In December 2006, the airline confirmed that it was in discussions to provide and operate aircraft for BAG Aviation Holdings, which acquired seventeen commuter flight slots at the Long Beach Airport in Long Beach, California. Island Air will also be providing employees for the operation. A minimum of three aircraft, both Dash 8-100 and Q400, will be provided.^[1]

[edit] Fleet

Dash 8-100 in the airline's pre-2006 livery

The Island Air fleet includes the following aircraft (at December 2006) ^[2]^[3]:

6 Bombardier Dash 8-100/200
3 Bombardier Q400 as of the beginning of 2006
1 Bombardier Challenger 601 (used for charter services)

The airline took delivery of a Bombardier Q400 in March 2006 and on a five year lease. In September 2006, the airline announced that it was withdrawing the aircraft from inter-island service the following month, with delivery of an additional two Q400s rescheduled to 2007. The airline is in negotiations to redeploy the current Q400.