Comments on: Mokulele Hires Republic for Interisland Flying in Hawai’i

By: Curly Sue

Curly Sue — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:47:13 +0000

As most of you seem to be concentrating on more technical issues, I would like to add something a little different to the mix. Go! sucks, and they should change their name to Stay!. My husband and I were in Hawaii last year and made the biggest mistake by booking all out inter island travel through Go! airlines. We spent much of our vacation at the different airports waiting for Go! to well…go! On one of our flights from Kauai to the Big Island, we left Kauai about an hour and a half late (not bad for Go!), and then from Honolulu to the Big Island we waited for 6 hours! (About average delay on Go!) That was our last leg of the trip. On our way back from Big Island to HNL for our flight back to the mainland, we had scheduled a relatively early flight compared to our flight back home wasn’t until 10pm. We wanted to spend some time in Waikiki before heading home and grab some dinner there before our flight…We waited at Hilo from 1pm until 6pm when we finally decided if we didn’t catch another airline we would miss our flight home. So we went and had to purchase two additional tickets on Hawaiian Airlines (whcih by the way, the weather for them seemed to be just fine!) in order to barely make it back to HNL in time for our flight home. If anyone is thinking of flying Go! rethink it!

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:26:05 +0000

DRG. I agree 100% let’s hope the locals on the island support Mokulele. I saw many locals flying GO! (shame on them). I guess the rest is in the marketing. The Ejets are such superior aircraft to RJs, that it’s hard to believe that given a choice, your average inter-island tourist wouldn’t opt for the Mokulele product.

CF: I REALLY miss the Bird. Hands down the most beautiful livery in the air (IMHO). In fact, I was in HNL about a month ago and had my picture taken in front of one of the old 737-200s. Have you seen the new Aloha Air Cargo Livery? Also, note that the butterfly on the tail of the Mokulele Ejet is actually the logo of the Kapalua resort. There must be some sort of marketing partnership there.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:24:58 +0000

DRG. I agree 100% let’s hope the locals on the island support Mokulele. I saw many locals flying GO! (shame on them). I guess the rest is in the marketing. The Ejets are such superior aircraft to RJs, that it’s hard to believe that given a choice, your average interslaind tourist wouldn’t opt for the Mokulele product.

CF: I REALLY miss the Bird. Hands down the most beutiful livery in the air (IMHO). In fact, I was in HNL about a month ago and had my picture taken in front of one of the old 737-200s. Have you seen the new Aloha Air Cargo Livery? Also, note that the butterfly on the tail of the Mokulele Ejet is actually the logo of the Kapalua resort. There must be some sort of marketing partnership there.

By: DRG

DRG — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:53:15 +0000

Two words: Blood bath. I don’t believe there is room for more than two carriers in this market.

By: dctravel

dctravel — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:42:09 +0000

Thanks, that is really interesting. I always assumed the planes where shipped over on cargo vessels. Shows you that I had no clue.

By: Steven Frischling

Steven Frischling — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:47:53 +0000

CF:

Icelandair has 20 Sukhoi Superjet 100 on order. ItAli Airlines, in Italy, has 10 on order as well.

I agree that it will be Looooong time before we see them in North America, or really anywhere outside Russia. Even the Euro and MidEast airlines has seemingly turned away from what looks like a great option. With Boeing on-board with aircraft it seems like it should have had a warmer welcome by airlines.

Steven Frischling
Founder
The Travel Strategist
Web: http://www.thetravelstrategist.com
Blog: http://www.flyingwithfish.com

By: CF

CF — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 05:08:22 +0000

Mark – That is a nice new livery, but I’m sad to see the old bird of paradise disappear.

Zack – I agree that the short stage length means that you could probably run an effective no frills airline. Just keep those planes in the air as much as possible. But I tend to think the 737/A320 series are a bit too big for the market. The Embraers are just right – maybe the 190s would be ideal as Mark says Aloha once looked at.

dctravel – To further what David SF says, check out this link with an interior shot of what the Hawaiian 717s looked like to get them to the islands:
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/your-photos/31886-hawaiian-air-ferry-flight.html

Axel – Oops, I forgot to push my BNET post live this morning. It’s up there now. But I posted yesterday, so I really didn’t miss much. Tough crowd! It’s been a busy couple days over here, but I’m doing my best.

Steven – Something tells me we’re a LOOOONG ways away from seeing that. The Sukhoi is an interesting plane, and when it’s up and running we’ll really see what it can do. But it looks promising. The hard part is going to be getting the public to trust a Russian-built aircraft. They don’t know that Boeing has collaborated on it – all they’ll see is a Russian name and that’s going to be hard to overcome. But if the plane is that great, then someone will operate it. I believe an Italian airline has already said it’ll give it a shot. But Hawai’i . . . that’s gonna take awhile.

By: Steven Frischling

Steven Frischling — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:27:50 +0000

Cranky,

When do you expect them to start operating the Sukhoi Superjet 100 on these routes ….. more fuel efficient (so they say) and more roomy inside :0)

Steven Frischling
Founder
The Travel Strategist
Web: http://www.thetravelstrategist.com
Blog: http://www.flyingwithfish.com

By: Axel Sarkissian

Axel Sarkissian — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:56:18 +0000

CF? i havent seen any new posts and you havent replied to comments lately.

By: David SF east bay

David SF east bay — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:14:48 +0000

dctrave……they remove the seats and add temporary extra fuel tanks in the passenger cabin to get the aircraft to Hawaii.