Mokulele Airlines (MHO, Kona) says it will resume all flights by February 3, 2025, after grounding its entire fleet in mid-January "due to maintenance and an abundance of caution."
“Mokulele Airlines is currently accommodating all passengers across our network and will progressively increase the number of flights throughout this week," president of Hawai'i operations Louis Saint-Cyr said earlier this week. "We plan to return to full operations of all published scheduled flights beginning February 3, 2025.”
The carrier has not disclosed the exact reason for the groundings. However, it required inspections of all aircraft before they returned to service.
Mokulele Airlines is a subsidiary of Surf Air Mobility and operates as a division of Southern Airways Express (9X, Memphis International) without its own certificate. It provides essential inter-island flights around Hawai'i with its fleet of Cessna (single turboprop) 208EX Grand Caravans. When operating its full schedules, Mokulele links Honolulu, Kahului, Kalaupapa, Hana, Kona, Kamuela, Kaunakakai, Kapalua, and Lanai City. It currently holds Essential Air Service contracts to four Hawaiian destinations.
In August 2024, Mokulele Airlines also suspended flights due to "potential discrepancies in the documentation of a recent landing gear" maintenance. It uncovered the issues during routine maintenance, and the carrier notified the Hawai'i Department of Transportation. At the time, Saint-Cyr said the decision was made "as a precautionary step to uphold our rigorous safety standards."
Following the latest disruption, the Hawai'i DOT said it would issue a tender for an open-ended charter contract with a regional operator to ensure continuity of air services in the event of further groundings at Mokulele Airlines. US House Representative Jill Tokuda suggested Mokulele should be stripped of some of the subsidies it receives due to non-performance.