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81-647: Mokulele Airlines is a regional airline operating in Hawaii . The airline operates scheduled inter-island and charter flights, primarily between smaller airports and its hubs at Kahului Airport on the island of Maui and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on the island of Oahu . The airline was acquired by Southern Airways Express in 2019 but continues to operate under its own brand. Both Southern Airways and Mokulele Airlines are subsidiaries of Surf Air Mobility , which purchased Southern in 2023. The airline

162-522: A Boeing 767 -200ER leased from Air Transport International would operate the flights, with the Honolulu to Rockford segment beginning on April 13, 2012, and the Rockford to London segment starting May 4. On April 8, the airline delayed the start of service until at least October. In early 2012, Mesa Air Group announced it would rebrand its jets operations back to the go! name as the name go!Mokulele and Mokulele

243-451: A 1983 article about PBA, Provincetown-Boston Airlines , both Air New England and Air Florida are described as regional airlines. At the time, Air New England was a recently-failed turboprop operator in the northeast USA, while Air Florida was a jet carrier flying from Florida to the northeast, to Latin America and Europe. The two airlines had little in common. As flag carriers grew to fill

324-616: A 75% stake in the joint venture, with Republic holding the remaining 25%. Mokulele aircraft remained on the Mokulele operating certificate , while the go! Mokulele aircraft remained on the Mesa Airlines operating certificate. During the concluding months of 2011 it was announced the complete divestiture of the Mokulele Airlines turboprop operations from Mesa Air Group's joint venture with Republic Airways Holdings. In June 2012, Mesa began

405-416: A code share agreement. On Friday, December 9, Mokulele grounded its fleet in conjunction with an internal record-keeping audit. Flights resumed the following Monday. In December 2011, the airline unveiled plans to begin operating a charter service from Honolulu to Rockford, Illinois and London . When the service was approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation the following month, the schedule showed

486-431: A code-sharing agreement hoped for in early 2009. The second, with WestJet Airlines , provides access to Mokulele's inter-island flights to WestJet's customers, including sightseeing air tours. Each airline was to promote the other on their respective websites. Mokulele continued to operate flights on behalf of go! Express while also operating its own, independent brand. After running into financial difficulties earlier in

567-707: A direct payment of two years’ worth of subsidies. Officials expressed concern over low ridership and a pilot shortage, and Mokulele proposed using the same type of aircraft that SeaPort Airlines flew. In March 2016, the airline announced that it was considering serving Visalia without a subsidy, but did not pursue. The airline's service to Los Angeles International Airport from Imperial County Airport began on May 23 and from Santa Maria Public Airport on October 10, 2016; with Inyokern Airport scheduled for early 2017. Los Angeles flights were scaled back after congestion added significant taxi and flight times to its operations out of Los Angeles, all related to runway construction at

648-424: A form of a virtual airline , with the regional airline paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. This practice allows the mainline carrier to use outsourced labor at smaller stations, to reduce costs. In 2011, 61% of all advertised flights for American, Delta, United and US Airways were operated by their regional brands. This figure

729-436: A joint venture, with 75% of the joint venture owned by Mesa and 25% owned by Mokulele shareholders. Mesa decreased the size of the operation to just 4 Cessna Grand Caravans. In November 2011, Mesa Air Group announced that it had sold the go! Mokulele turboprop operation, operated by Mokulele Airlines, to Scottsdale, Arizona -based Transpac Aviation Inc. go!Mokulele's turboprop services continued to be operated by Mokulele under

810-519: A larger carrier, similar to their American counterparts. Some of these airlines and brands include: The trend of branding regional airlines to match the mainline airlines, has led to just three major sub-brands in the United States: American Eagle , Delta Connection and United Express . They are the post-deregulation survivors of the multiple bankruptcies and mergers of the major, legacy, mainline airlines. These regional brands are

891-514: A mainline or flagship airline's aircraft, while in actuality they are far from it. Sub-branding is pretty consistent throughout the airline industry of the United States, with all the regional airlines, mainline airlines, and the regional airline holding companies, as well as the mainline airlines holding companies participating. On Feb 12th, 2010, a year after the crash of Colgan flight 3407 , Frontline premiered its WGA Award-winning exposé on

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972-559: A new city to the network, Hana, located on the far east side of Maui. The flights operate twice a day under a partnership with the owners of the resort in Hana. The airline also outsourced eight flights a day to Schuman Aviation – Makani Kai , to bring additional frequencies on the Maui – Kona route, bringing the total daily flights to fifteen on peak days, each way. When Island Air announced plans to retire their fleet of Dash 8 aircraft, Mokulele jumped on

1053-527: A new vision for regional mobility, based on services built out of small general aviation aircraft and VLJs (very light jets) with advanced automation. This vision failed to materialize due to its primary focus on rural mobility and a lack of clear and viable business case. With the introduction of air taxi services and very light jets , city pair links to smaller communities lacking regional connections could become more common. This opportunities could become commercially viable with advanced air mobility and

1134-599: A one-year wet-lease agreement with Sun Air to provide up to 4 aircraft and crews for Sun Air's EAS Pittsburgh flying. In May 2015, Mokulele and officials publicly announced plans to launch new service in Florida scheduled to begin on November 15, 2015; but it withdrew its plans, claiming that it needed more time to conduct research and that it had been threatened by competitor Silver Airways . On November 26, 2015, Mokulele Airlines changed its ICAO code to MHO, and its callsign to "Mahalo" for its Hawai‘i flight operations. 2016 also saw

1215-532: A pretrial hearing, Faris preliminarily ruled that Mesa had misused confidential information in setting up Go!, and failed to return or destroy confidential data acquired during the bankruptcy proceedings. "The misuse was a substantial factor in Mesa's decision on entering the Hawaii market," said Faris. Faris, however, deferred any decision on damages pending the outcome of the trial, saying it still needed to be decided whether

1296-477: A result of Mokulele's entrance into markets that compete directly with go!, that airline later announced that it would end the go!Express agreement with Mokulele in April 2009. In December 2008, Mokulele Airlines announced partnerships with two larger North American airlines. The first, with Alaska Airlines , allows members of Alaska's Mileage Plan frequent flyer program to earn and redeem miles on Mokulele flights, with

1377-677: A route it had flown until 2016. The full merger with Southern Airways was completed in February 2020. In early 2019, Mokulele provided one of its Cessna Grand Caravan to Ampaire , a startup company based in Los Angeles. The company will equip the Caravan with an electric powertrain with plans to introduce commercial service by 2023. Demonstration flights of the Electric EEL were completed in December 2020 on

1458-408: A strong entrepreneurial sector of independents. They are based on business models ranging from the traditional full service airline to low cost carriers . Innovations include one where the passenger is required to join a membership club before being allowed to fly. Some examples of European regional airlines include: India has many regional carriers operating currently. Some of these operate under

1539-531: A third hard drive. On December 13, Faris denied the request on the basis that new evidence would likely not change the outcome of the trial, and the airline planned to proceed with its appeal of the decision to US District Court . On April 30, 2008, the two airlines announced a settlement had been reached whereby Mesa would withdraw its appeal of the judgment and would pay Hawaiian $ 52.5 million. On November 28, 2008, Go!'s parent company, Mesa Air Group, announced that it had reached an agreement with Yucaipa Cos.,

1620-491: A way that they could not be discovered, then confirming that the files in question were deleted. Mesa placed Murnane on paid administrative leave on September 22, 2007. Hawaiian contended that Murnane deleted the files maliciously in an attempt to destroy evidence that would show that Mesa improperly used confidential data. Mesa contended that Murnane accidentally deleted the files in question in an attempt to remove pornographic material from his computer. On September 27, in

1701-655: Is common in the U.S. to incorrectly associate aircraft size with the Department of Transportation's designation of major, national, and regional airline. The only corollary is the Regional Airline Association, an industry trade group, defines "regional airlines" generally as "...operat(ing) short and medium haul scheduled airline service connecting smaller communities with larger cities and connecting hubs. The airlines' fleet primarily consists of 19 to 68 seat turboprops and 30 to 100 seat regional jets." To be clear there

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1782-500: Is fully owned by American Airlines Group and does business as American Eagle . Many of these large regional airlines have joined the lobbying group Regional Airline Association . This association lobbies purely for the financial interest of the corporate bodies it constitutes, not the employees of those airlines. In Canada there are a number of regional airlines. Some of them focus on Canadian Arctic and First Nations communities, while others operate regional flights on behalf of

1863-428: Is no distinction in the Department of Transportation definition of major, national and regional airlines by aircraft size. The definition is based on revenue. The clash of definitions has led to confusion in the media and the public. Beginning around 1985, a number of trends have become apparent. Regional aircraft are getting larger, faster, and are flying longer ranges. Additionally, the vast majority of regionals within

1944-652: The Civil Aeronautics Board from 1943 to 1950 include: A history and study of regional airlines was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in 1994 under the title Commuter Airlines of the United States , by R.E.G. Davies and I. E. Quastler . Since the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the US federal government has continued support of the regional airline sector to ensure many of

2025-410: The aircraft livery for the company they are operating flights for. These airlines can be subsidiaries of the major airline or fly under a code sharing agreement or operating through capacity purchase agreements, with the mainline parent company financing the aircraft for the regional airline, and then placing the aircraft with the regional for very little cost. An example would be Envoy Air , which

2106-425: The 19 passenger Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector and the 34 seat Dornier 328 were undertaken, but met little financial success, partly due to economic downturn in the airline industry resulting from the outbreak of hostilities when Iraq invaded Kuwait . Many of the regional airlines operating turboprop equipment such as Delta 's regional sister Comair airlines in the United States set the course for bypassing entirely

2187-444: The 1929 launch of Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) in the United States. T-A-T's transcontinental "Lindbergh Line" became America's first contiguous coast-to-coast air service, and it ushered in a new era of major airlines expanding to operate networks with large footprints. The development of long-range aircraft operated by flag carriers like British Overseas Airways Corporation and Trans-Canada Airlines further normalized

2268-524: The Big Island. In September 2006, the airline announced that it had reached an agreement with Mesa Air Group and its go! division, whereby Mokulele would operate Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft to Kapalua , Molokai , and Lanai under the name go!Express . Service began with flights from Kapalua to Honolulu, Kahului, and Kona on April 17, 2007. Service began for flights to Molokai on July 21, 2007, and flights to Lanai on October 6, 2007. In January 2008,

2349-500: The Go!Express agreement with Mokulele in April 2009. The airline later accelerated plans to terminate the agreement with Mokulele, and ended the code-share on March 24, 2009, replacing it with a new agreement with Island Air that allowed Mesa to sell existing Island Air flights with the Go!Express name. On March 17, 2014, Mesa announced that Go! would cease service on April 1, 2014, with its aircraft re-deployed to support Mesa's operations on

2430-577: The Kahului to Hana route to test the propulsion system in an operational environment. Mokulele was selected to be the launch customer for the REGENT Viceroy , an electric ground-effect vehicle , which the manufacturer brands a "seaglider." Mokulele's parent company Southern Airways Express placed an order for 20 of the crafts. In 2020, Southern Airways Express announced that Mokulele would merge with Makani Kai Air . Flights will be operated and be sold under

2511-441: The Mokulele brand. Operations began to combine on June 15, 2020, and were completed by the end of the year. Makani Kai Air owner Richard Schuman joined Southern as Vice President of Hawaii operations. Mokulele started operations with two larger Saab 340 B Plus aircraft in the summer of 2022. Parent company Southern Airways Express will operate these 30-seat aircraft as public charter flights which Mokulele will sell. The company said

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2592-532: The U.S. mainland. The airline also stated that a long term increase in the cost of fuel had prevented the operation from being profitable. In February 2006, before the airline had started flying, Hawaiian Airlines filed a complaint for injunctive relief. In its complaint, Hawaiian Airlines noted that Mesa Air Group had been a potential investor during Hawaiian's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and as such, had access to confidential business data that it alleged Mesa then used in developing Go!. Hawaiian claimed that

2673-606: The United States with more than ten aircraft within their fleet, have lost their individual identities and now serve only as feeders, to Alaska Airlines , American Airlines , Delta Air Lines , or United Airlines major hubs. Regional aircraft in the US have been getting slightly more comfortable with the addition of better ergonomically designed aircraft cabins , and the addition of varying travel classes aboard these aircraft. From small, less than 50-seat "single-class cabin" turboprop , to turbofan regional jet equipment, present day regional airlines provide aircraft such as

2754-429: The United States, are: Mainline carrier-owned Independent contractors The evolution and chronological history of the commuter side of the regional airline industry can be defined by a number of dates prior to the end of the era of airline regulation by the Civil Aeronautics Board of the United States. Among these significant dates are: List of Commuter Airlines in 1977 Prior to Airline Deregulation: Some of

2835-401: The agreement effective March 24, 2009, and nullifying Mokulele agreement to operate Caravans as " go! express." In October 2009, Mokulele announced that it was going to join go! and become go! Mokulele . Peter Forman, an airline historian, said that the merger would cause air fares in Hawaii to increase, since go! and Mokulele no longer compete with one another. The merger agreement included

2916-404: The airline hub. Initially these tie ups tended to use small 15 -19 seat aircraft, which did not have a reputation of passenger comfort, or safe reliable operations, by small often under capitalized tiny airline operators. To create a common tie and what appeared to be seamless to the air traveler, major carriers marketed in advertising and soon had much smaller airlines paint their small and what

2997-585: The airline is the only reasonable link to a larger town. Examples of this are PenAir , which links the remote Aleutian Islands to Anchorage, Alaska , and Mokulele Airlines , which operates in the Hawaiian islands. As an affiliated airline , contracting with a major airline , operating under their brand name (for example, Endeavor Air operates flights under the Delta Connection brand name for Delta Air Lines ), and filling two roles: delivering passengers to

3078-487: The airline reached an agreement with Aloha Airlines to provide cargo service to Molokai, Lanai, and Kapalua under the name Aloha Cargo Express beginning in April using a Cessna 208 Cargomaster. Following Aloha's March 2008 bankruptcy, Boyer indicated that he had an agreement with Aloha CEO David Banmiller to work with the buyer of Aloha's cargo operations to continue the Mokulele-Aloha contract. Boyer also stated that

3159-470: The airline would go ahead with cargo operations under its own name, Mokulele Air Cargo . In October 2008, Mokulele announced that it had reached an agreement with Republic Airways Holdings to provide inter-island jet service. On November 19, Republic's Shuttle America began operating two Embraer 170 regional jet aircraft on flights between Honolulu, Lihue, and Kona under the Mokulele name, with additional aircraft and destinations to be added in 2009. As

3240-401: The airline's CEO . At the time of the acquisition, the company had a fleet of three Piper Navajo Chieftains and was operating only charters and sightseeing trips to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park , as well as scenic flights around the Big Island and Maui. Mr. Boyer worked on obtaining the authority to operate scheduled services between Kahului Airport on Maui and both Kailua-Kona and Hilo on

3321-428: The airport. On February 8, 2019, Southern Airways Express purchased the assets of Mokulele Flight Service, Inc. from Transpac Holdings. The company believed by adding Mokulele Airlines to its portfolio, it can lead to additional growth and opportunities, notably its relationship with American Airlines. On May 24, 2019, Mokulele announced it would restore the link between Kahului, Maui and Lana'i City on June 17, 2019,

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3402-437: The capability of "far and wide" air travel among the traveling public. "Regional airline" is a flexible term whose meaning has changed substantially over time. What it means today is different than how it has been used in the past. For instance, in the United States, around 1960, the term “regional carrier” denoted the smaller eight of the 12 largest carriers, then known as trunk carriers (or trunk airlines or simply trunks). At

3483-629: The company start a brand-refresh and new services in California. In February 2016, Mokulele Airlines re-applied for Essential Air Service subsidy for Imperial County Airport and Visalia Municipal Airport after SeaPort Airlines terminated service in late January. Imperial County selected Mokulele, but Visalia voted instead to shift from EAS to request $ 3.7 million from the Community Flexibility Pilot Program, which pays cities to forego subsidized air service for 10 years in favor of

3564-410: The confidentiality agreement under which potential investors were given access to the data prohibited the use of that information to compete with Hawaiian for a period of two years. In a memo explaining his decision to rule against Hawaiian's request for a preliminary injunction , U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris wrote that e-mail made public during Hawaiian Airlines lawsuit raised "real doubts about

3645-519: The demand of long-range passenger traffic, new and small airlines found niches flying between short and under-served routes to-and-from major airports and more rural destinations. Through the 1960s and 1970s, war surplus designs (notably, the Douglas DC-3 ) were replaced by higher-performance turboprop or jet -powered designs like the Fokker F27 Friendship and BAC One-Eleven . This extended

3726-430: The following destinations within the state of Hawaii: Mokulele Airlines operates the following aircraft: Regional airline Decades before the advent of jet airliners and high-speed, long-range air service, commercial aviation was structured similarly to rail transport networks. In this era, technological limitations on air navigation and propeller-driven aircraft performance imposed strict constraints on

3807-591: The former majority holder of Aloha Airlines , to settle Aloha's lawsuit. Among the terms of the agreement was that Yucaipa would license the Aloha Airlines name to Mesa, which would rebrand the Go! operation as Aloha Airlines. While Yucaipa was the successful high bidder for the rights to Aloha's name, bankruptcy judge Lloyd King temporarily blocked the deal and postponed a hearing on the deal until February 19, in order to give supporters and opponents time to respond. On March 3, 2009, bankruptcy judge Lloyd King blocked

3888-545: The government's UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme) . Note:- Alliance Air is still a state-owned airline, whereas Air India is private. Australia has an association for regional airline, the Regional Aviation of Australia. More than 2 million passengers and 23 million kg of cargo are involved each year. Post airline deregulation, airlines sought added market share and to do this they sought partnerships with regional and small airlines to feed traffic into

3969-416: The higher capacity CRJ700 , CRJ900 , CRJ1000 series of aircraft and the somewhat larger fuselage Embraer E-Jets . Some of these newer aircraft are capable of flying longer distances with comfort levels that rival and surpass the regional airline equipment of the past. In the early 1990s, much more advanced turboprop-powered, fuel efficient, and passenger friendly DC-3 type replacement projects such as

4050-532: The industry entitled "Flying Cheap". In the program, reporter Miles O'Brien questioned how the impact of low salaries are having on pilot psyches and how safe this could be for the flying public. When asked to respond to the question, Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, told Frontline that, "...there are many other people who earn less money than that and work more days in these communities that can afford it and do it and do it responsibly." The Small Aircraft Transportation System outlined

4131-424: The information existed in the public domain. Following the hearing which lasted from September 28 to October 4, Faris ruled on October 30 that Mesa had misused the confidential information and ordered Mesa to pay Hawaiian $ 80 million, while rejecting Hawaiian's request to bar Go! from selling tickets for one year. Following the ruling, Mesa requested a retrial claiming it had recovered the previously lost evidence on

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4212-486: The intent of driving Aloha out of business. On March 20, 2008, Aloha Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Citing record high fuel prices and inter-island competition with Go!, it ceased passenger operation 11 days later. As the trial date approached, it became known that Mesa's chief financial officer, George "Peter" Murnane III, had e-mailed an acquaintance about a week after Hawaiian filed suit, first asking for information about how to delete files in such

4293-461: The introduction of electric aircraft. In some parts of the world, regional airlines face competition from high-speed rail and also coach (bus) services with airlines sometimes replacing feeder services through air rail alliances and contracts with bus companies (e.g., Landline between Philadelphia International Airport and Atlantic City International Airport ). In North America , regional airlines are operated primarily to bring passengers to

4374-408: The larger aircraft were necessary to fill the gap in service on Molokai and Lanai created by the departure of Ohana by Hawaiian . After several issues with aircraft in early 2023; the airline announced three Tecnam P2012 Traveller aircraft would be brought in as temporary reserve aircraft while Mokulele's Grand Caravans were refurbished and given heavy inspections. In July 2023, Surf Air Mobility ,

4455-631: The lesser known smaller brands used by the regional airlines and their parent companies were: European regional airlines serve the intra-continental sector in Europe . They connect cities to major airports and to other cities, avoiding the need for passengers to make transfers. For example, BA CityFlyer a regional subsidiary of British Airways uses the basic Chatham Dockyard Union Flag livery of its parent company and flies between domestic and European cities. Some of Europe's regional airlines are subsidiaries of national air carriers, though there remains

4536-667: The livery of Air France . NLM 's KLM style branding does however pre-date the Air France efforts though by a number of years. The success of the "rebranding" or "pseudo branding" of a much smaller airline into the name recognition of a much larger one soon became clear as passenger numbers soared at Air Alpes, and it was soon decided to paint other aircraft such as the Fokker F-27 into full Air France colours as well. Many airline passengers find sub-branding very confusing, while many other airline passengers are content to think they are on

4617-680: The mainline airline's sub-brand livery. For example, United Express regional airline partner CommutAir branded its entire fleet as United Express. On the other hand, regional airline Gulfstream International Airlines did not brand their aircraft. When Colgan Air was still operating, they branded a handful of aircraft as Colgan Air, but most were branded as Continental Connection , US Airways Express or United Express , with whom it had contractual agreements. 21st century regional airlines are commonly organized in one of two ways. Operating as an independent airline under their own brand, mostly providing service to small and isolated towns, for whom

4698-410: The mainline airlines, in terms of revenue, many would be designated major airline carrier status based on the only actual definition of "major airline," in the United States, the definition from the U.S. Department of Transportation. This definition is based solely on annual revenue and not on any other criterion such as average aircraft seating capacity, pilot pay, or number of aircraft in the fleet. It

4779-439: The major airline's hubs from surrounding towns, and increasing frequency of service on mainline routes during times when demand does not warrant use of large aircraft, known as commuter flights . One of the first independently owned and managed airlines in the world that rebranded its aircraft to match a larger airline's brand was Air Alpes of France. During 1974, Air Alpes painted its newly delivered short range regional jets in

4860-484: The major airlines. Go! (airline) Go! (styled as go! ) was a regional brand of Arizona-based Mesa Airlines . Go! operated inter-island services within Hawaii. Its main base was Honolulu International Airport . It was a division within the Mesa Airlines subsidiary of Mesa Air Group and its flights were operated by Mesa Airlines. The airline ceased operations in Hawaii on April 1, 2014. The company slogan

4941-501: The major hubs, where they will connect for longer-distance flights on the national airlines also known as flagship carriers . The smallest regional carriers have become known as feeder airlines. The separate corporate structure allows the company to operate under different pay schedules, typically paying much less than their mainline owners. Many large North American airlines, have established operational relationships with one or more regional airline companies. Their aircraft often use

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5022-405: The new airline. Faris dismissed the counter suit on December 8, 2006, and at that time set an opening trial date on September 25, 2007. In October 2006, Aloha Airlines parent Aloha Airgroup filed a lawsuit similar to Hawaiian's, claiming that Mesa received confidential information during Aloha's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and improperly used it to enter the Hawaii inter-island market with

5103-832: The opportunity and ordered additional Caravans to fill the gap. In March 2014, Mesa Airlines announced the shut down of its go! division in Hawai'i – ending the codeshare relationship between Mesa and Mokulele, allowing the airline to now operate additional flights that were previously prohibited by the codeshare agreement. On April 11, 2014, Mokulele began commuter flights linking Honolulu and Kahului Airport in Maui. The airline also began working with Hawai'i Department of Transportation and Oahu County officials on linking Kahului and Barbers Point/Kalaeloa/John Rodgers Field in West Oahu, and on May 13, 2014, confirmed that flights would begin on July 1. Starting in February 2015, Mokulele Airlines entered into

5184-666: The parent company of Mokulele Airlines and Southern Airways Express, went public on the stock market through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Mokulele Airlines has historically been voted as "Hawai'i's #1 Island Hopper" or Commuter Airline by the local news media, along with awards for the "Best Air Tour". In 2019, Trip Advisor ranked Mokulele Airlines as the Best Specialty/Leisure Airline in North America. Mokulele Airlines operates flights to

5265-403: The potential length of each flight; some routes covered less than 100 miles (160 km). As such, airlines structured their services along point-to-point routes with many stops between the originating and terminating air terminals. This system of air transportation effectively forced most airlines to be "regional" in nature, but the lack of distinction among carriers soon began to change with

5346-452: The process of dropping the "go! Mokulele" name and reverting to "go!". The Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation into whether two Go! pilots fell asleep during a 36-minute flight between Honolulu and Hilo . Flight 1002 on February 13, 2008, overshot Hilo Airport by 30 miles (26 nmi; 48 km), remaining 21,000 feet (6,401 m) in the air as it missed the destination. Air traffic controllers were unable to reach

5427-412: The propriety of Mesa's conduct." In March 2006, Mesa filed a counter suit, claiming that Hawaiian was violating antitrust law by trying to keep Mesa out of Hawaii, using legal maneuvers to prevent Mesa from offering fares below the prevailing fares offered by Hawaiian. Mesa also alleged that Hawaiian had coerced two freight forwarders into refusing parts and equipment Mesa wanted to ship to Hawaii for

5508-494: The range of the regionals dramatically, causing a wave of consolidations between the now overlapping airlines. In the United States, regional airlines were an important building block of today's passenger air system. The U.S. Government encouraged the forming of regional airlines to provide services from smaller communities to larger towns, where air passengers could connect to a larger network. The original regional airlines (then known as " Local service carriers ") sanctioned by

5589-888: The regional turboprops as they became the first to transition to an all-jet regional jet fleet. To a lesser extent in Europe and the United Kingdom this transition, to notably the Embraer or Canadair designs, was well advanced by the late 1990s. This evolution towards jet equipment, brought the independent regional airlines into direct competition with the major airlines, forcing additional consolidation. To improve on their market penetration, larger airline holding companies rely on operators of smaller aircraft to provide service or added frequency service to some airports. Such airlines, often operating in code-share arrangements with mainline airlines, often completely repaint [1] their aircraft fleet in

5670-619: The sale of Aloha's name and brand on the grounds that the auction was not public and must be reheld. On May 14, 2009, he blocked Mesa from rebranding Go! as Aloha. In October 2009, Mesa Air Group and Republic Airways Holdings merged their competing subsidiaries, Go! and Mokulele Airlines , into a joint venture, go! Mokulele . Mesa's CRJ-200 aircraft continued to operate jet service, supplemented by Mokulele's Cessna 208 Grand Caravan turboprop aircraft. Embraer 170 aircraft, operated on behalf of Mokulele by Republic subsidiary Shuttle America , were removed from Hawaii service. Mesa maintained

5751-462: The smaller and more isolated rural communities remain connected to air services. This is encouraged with the Essential Air Service program that subsidizes airline service to smaller U.S. communities and suburban centers, aiming to maintain year-round service. Although regional airlines in the United States are often viewed as small, not particularly lucrative "no name" subsidiaries of

5832-473: The time the four biggest airlines in the United States were known as the Big Four, comprising American , United , TWA and Eastern Air Lines . The other eight trunk carriers were Braniff , Capital , Continental , Delta , National , Northeast , Northwest and Western . Since, at the time, none of these eight had a network approaching the scale of the Big Four, they were known as the regional carriers. This

5913-568: The two pilots for 25 minutes, after which contact was re-established and the aircraft returned for a safe landing in Hilo. The pilots were later fired over the incident. On September 24, 2008 the FAA announced that the licenses of both pilots had been suspended. The Captain had his suspended for 60 days, while the First Officer had his suspended for 45 days. No action was taken against Go! because sufficient rest

5994-623: The year, the airline announced in March 2009 that Republic had taken a 50% stake in the company. Boyer relinquished the CEO position to Republic vice president Scott Durgin, moving to head the airline's sales and marketing efforts. Republic also assumed control of the Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft operated by Mokulele. A few days later, Mesa announced that the change of CEO allows the airline to terminate its agreement with Mokulele early, and would terminate

6075-776: Was Hawaii's Low Fare Airline. Regional carrier Mesa Airlines started Go!'s inter-island operations on June 9, 2006, using five Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jet aircraft. In September 2006, the airline announced that it had reached an agreement with Mokulele Airlines , whereby Mokulele would operate Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft to Kapalua , Molokai , and Lanai under the name Go!Express . Service began with flights from Kapalua to Honolulu, Kahului, and Kona on April 17, 2007. Service began for flights to Molokai on July 21, 2007 and flights to Lanai on October 6, 2007. Following Mokulele's agreement with Republic Airways Holdings to have that company operate flights in Hawaii using 70-seat jets, Mesa announced that it would be terminating

6156-456: Was causing some brand confusion among the two companies. The airline also abandoned its non-turboprop charter plans so it could focus on service in the isles. In April 2012, the airline started operating daily service between Maui and Lanai. In July 2012, the airline returned to Kapalua Airport in West Maui, with flights from Honolulu to Kapalua twice per day. In October 2012, the airline brought

6237-409: Was despite the existence, at the time, of 13 smaller United States scheduled carriers known as local service carriers whose service was arguably far more regional than the “regional” trunks. So when reading historical sources, it’s important to understand that the term "regional airline" has migrated greatly over time. Sometimes the term has been stretched beyond the point of utility. For instance, in

6318-426: Was founded in 1994 as Mokulele Flight Service by Rebecca "Kawehi" Inaba and was the first airline in Hawaii to be founded by a Native Hawaiian woman. Mokulele is the Hawaiian word for “flying ship” but has come to represent not only airplanes but aviation and airlines more generally. In 2005, it was acquired by Boyer Industries, headed by Bill Boyer, Jr. , a former baggage handler turned entrepreneur who became

6399-401: Was often described as puddle-jumper aircraft, in the image and branding colors of the much larger mainline partner. This was to give the appearance of reliability. Over time these regional aircraft grew in size as airline hubs expanded and competition dwindled among the major carriers. Below is a list of many of the regional brands that evolved when regional airlines were advertised to look like

6480-580: Was only 40% in 2000. The formerly small regional airlines have grown substantially, through mergers or by the use of a holding company, as pioneered by AMR Corporation in 1982. AMR created the AMR Eagle Holding Corporation which unified its wholly owned American Eagle Airlines and Executive Airlines under one division, but still maintained the regional airlines' operating certificates and personnel separate from each other and American Airlines . The most significant regional airlines in

6561-485: Was provided for both crew members prior to the flight. During the investigations, however, it was found that the Captain in fact suffered from a sleep disorder known as severe obstructive sleep apnea . This is a condition that causes a person to stop breathing intermittently during sleep, thus preventing a full night's rest. Mesa Airlines operated flights on behalf of Go! to the following destinations: As of October 2012,

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