The Hawai'i Department of Transportation (HDOT) in the United States will issue a tender for an open-ended charter contract with a regional operator to step up in case of disruptions by Mokulele Airlines (MHO, Kona), which currently holds a monopoly at five Hawaiian airports.

"We’re looking at getting an open-ended contract that the HDOT would run to a charter company and we’ll put out [a request for proposal]. We’ll go within this budget session to request the funding for something like this to ensure that we have a backup plan should these air service disruptions occur again," HDOT director Ed Sniffen told HawaiiNewsNow.

US Representative Jill Tokuda added that she would talk to the Federal Aviation Administration - FAA to discuss alternative ways of securing air connectivity across the archipelago. Mokulele Airlines currently holds Essential Air Service contracts to four Hawaiian destinations. Tokuda hinted that she would discuss with the federal government whether the carrier should be stripped of some of the subsidies due to non-performance.

This comes after Mokulele Airlines suspended all of its flights on January 15, having grounded its Cessna (single turboprop) C208 Grand Caravan fleet "due to maintenance and an abundance of caution." The grounding also affected some flights operated by parent carrier Southern Airways Express on the US mainland. The Hawaiian airline has since resumed scheduled operations, although some cancellations persist.

This was the second time in less than half a year that the airline halted its scheduled flights due to maintenance checks, following a similar incident in August 2024.

Kaunakakai, Kalaupapa, Kamuela, Hana, and Kapalua are served on a scheduled basis only by Mokulele Airlines. The disruptions to the carrier's flights are felt particularly severely on the island of Moloka'i, which is served mainly through Kaunakakai airport (Kalaupapa, also located on the island, is a limited-entry National Historical Park). With no other airline serving it on a scheduled basis, residents are forced to rely on expensive charters or travel by sea to the larger islands of Maui or O'ahu.

The local government is also reportedly evaluating options to extend the runway at Kaunakakai to allow larger aircraft to operate from the facility, but this would take at least eight years.

Mokulele Airlines did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment.