Different Skies
Ditch the flying cattle cars

by Alan D. McNarie

Over the past couple of years, while the cutthroat competition between Hawaiian, Aloha and go! Airlines grabbed headlines, a second tier of small commuter airlines-Mokulele, IslandAir and Pacific Wings-have been offering a different way to fly: small prop planes hopping between smaller airports.
Mokulele (Hawaiian for "island jumping") recently announced a code-sharing agreement that allows passengers to book Mokulele flights on the go! Web site. The agreement, along with a cash infusion from financier Dorvin Leis, has given the small local airline a chance to expand and upgrade its fleet from piston-driven Piper Chieftains to turboprop Cessna Caravans. According to Mokulele CEO Bob McKinney, the airline will have a total of six Caravans by the end of the year, with an eventual fleet of ten.
For trips between Hawai'i and Maui, commuter puddle-jumpers offer distinct advantages: reasonable pricing, minimal hassles, deluxe seating, and gorgeous views.
Mokulele offers several flights daily from Kona to Kahului and Kapalua, two Sunday flights from Kona to Hana and routes between Hilo to Kahului on Sundays and Fridays. Under the go! banner, it also flies once per day from Kona to Honolulu, with stopovers at Kahului and Kapalua. The airline plans to expand service to Hana and begin scheduled flights to Moloka'i and Lana'i in the near future. Fares are generally competitive with the Big Boys (currently $67-77, with occasional promotional discounts). And each of the nine seats on a Mokulele flight is about the size of a jet's first-class seat, with the same leg room.
Prop planes fly a bit slower than jets-about 40 minutes on average for the Hilo-Kahului run (although when this reporter took that flight the flight time was exactly half an hour). But the overall travel time, from the moment you arrive at the airport until the you leave the destination airport, is much shorter, because small commuter planes are not subject to the same TSA security procedures. There are no security checkpoints, no long lines, no metal detectors - and you can keep your shoes on. Passengers need arrive only 30 minutes before departure. The pilot greets you in to the waiting room- "check in" means he checks your name off the list on his clipboard. Then you carry your bags out to the plane, he loads them in back, and you climb aboard.
If everyone on his list is there, then the flight may even leave early. When you disembark, the pilot hands you your bags, and you leave-no baggage carousels or lost luggage.
Baggage weight limits can be a hassle: on Piper Chieftains the baggage max is 35 pounds per passenger. But McKinney says the limit on the Cessnas will be two 50-lb checked bags per passenger, "Exactly what they can carry on with major carriers." That still might be a hassle if you have a surfboard or an extra cooler. But then, the airline does offer counter-to-counter air freight service.
The little planes' flight characteristics take a bit of getting used to; they have a much steeper rate of climb than the jets, and tend to wobble from side to side. The Cessnas, with their longer wingspan, should be more stable the Chieftains.
The bigger Cessnas will offer other advantages, too. The turboprop engines--hybrids that use a jet turbine to power propellers-burn kerosene jet fuel, which costs about half as much as aviation gasoline--and, McKinney claims, they're quieter than the Chieftain's piston engines. The Cessnas will even have video screens for in-flight entertainment. And the planes' wings are mounted above their windows, improving on what was already one of the airline's strong points: the views.
Mokulele's flights cruise at around 7,000 to 10,000 feet-about a third of the jets' cruise ceiling-which brings the landscape very close: the Kahalui-Hilo flight offers spectacular views of the waterfalls along the Hamakua Coast between Polulu and Waipi'o. The windows are much larger than a commercial jet's portholes-and on the Cessnas, passengers can also look out the windshield over the pilot's shoulder.
Mokulele started as a sightseeing charter service, and continues to offer such flights; its commuter service is like a sightseeing flight that takes you somewhere else at the end. Other commuter airlines offer similar advantages. As long as you don't need to fly direct to Honolulu, they offer a true alternatives to the jet's flying cattle cars.

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