Hawaiian Airlines will be discontinuing its regional subsidiary, Ohana by Hawaiian, which means the airline will be forced to stop flying to some destinations.
Continue reading: “Ohana By Hawaiian” Ceases Operations
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
"The Ohana by Hawaiian aircraft will be flown to the mainland..."
Maybe a dumb question, but how does this work? I'm assuming they don't have the range to make the flight themselves
I flew in the Cessna from O'ahu to molokai and back. That was definitely the smallest plane I've ever flown in but it was fine for the short flights. Nice to see that mokulele will get bigger planes.
@Sco
If the plane is completely empty and you are flexible to wait a few days for good wind conditions it's not a problem at all.
Additionally they can add some auxiliary fuel tanks as well.
I’m pretty sure Four Seasons closed their lounge at HNL. Now from my understanding they have their customers take PC12s from the general avation terminal on Lanai Air. Since they use the GA terminal now they don’t have the lounge.
These ATRs have ~1000 mile range with full load. I am sure that can be extended 2-3 fold on an empty plane with only fuel and two pilots on it. Not sure if they can add auxiliary fuel tanks on them temporarily.
Interesting read on ferry flying -
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34484972
@Sco
LOL, Maybe you should also ask how did they got them here in the first place. 😉
Adding to what @Max said, extra fuel tank is an easy mod. Sometimes (but probably not the case here) they remove the seats and ship them separately.
What I'm not sure is do they need special pilots/certifications to operate these flights.
@Eskimo - the pilots aren't an issue. Planning the ferry flight is something that any airline's flight planning department can do easily. They'll need to obtain a ferry permit from the FAA to gut the seats and install auxiliary tanks to make the trip to the mainland. Obtaining it is fairly easy and everyday general aviation pilots unassociated with a business or airline do it all the time.
https://www.airmodsflightcenter.com/ferry-tank-installations
At the end of the article is a description of adding ferry tanks to an ATR 42.
excerpt:
In January 2011, a major commercial carrier operating out of an island in the Western Pacific Ocean contracted Air-Mods to install the Turtle-Pac ferry tank in an ATR-42. The purpose was to allow the airplane to fly the long trans-Pacific legs between the Western Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, and California so the airplane could undergo scheduled service here in the mainland U.S. Air-Mods engineered the installation to comply with the Federal Aviation Regulations and the ATR design requirements.
One of the challenges related to the fuel line that had to pass from inside the cabin out to the wing fuel tank. Since there were no available openings from the cabin to the wing root, Air-Mods engineered a panel that would temporarily replace a cabin window to accommodate the fuel line. The challenge was to do this without disrupting the fuselage aerodynamics and also to maintain the envelope pressurization.
FYI, the Beech 1900's will not operate as Mokulele flights. Parent company Southern Airways will operate them under their own brand to "differentiate" the service.