Kamaka Air (KMK, Honolulu), an inter-island cargo charter carrier based in Hawaii, says it has no plans to expand to the United States mainland despite media speculation following a market gap created when Aloha Air Cargo (KH, Honolulu) withdrew from the Honolulu-Los Angeles International route earlier this year.

In an interview with Air Freight News, new CEO David Hinderland pointed out that the carrier's current fleet could not make the transpacific crossing. It currently owns six Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Caravans with a maximum payload of 1,436 kilograms and one SkyCourier 408F. It does plan to add more aircraft as it grows, he said, but did not elaborate.

Hinderland dismissed the idea of entering the transpacific market or competing with major belly-cargo carriers such as United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, plus integrators such as FedEx, United Parcel Service (UPS), DHL Express, and Amazon International's virtual carrier Prime Air. The speculation was fuelled by the hiring of Hinderland and Ken Gile as chief operating officer, both industry veterans who spent many years at Southwest Airlines.

According to Hinderland, Kamaka Air's current focus is on enhancing its inter-Hawaiian island service and potentially expanding its fleet.

"We're not doing a Honolulu to Los Angeles International run at all now, not even in the near term. We don't have any designs on B767 long-haul freighters. We're not ready for that. We just want to build up more terrific service for our Hawaiian island customers, add a few more aircraft, and find other niches. We want to remain a bulletproof 135 charter airline," he said.

Kamaka Air focuses on hand-loaded freight services within Hawaii including perishables, pharmaceuticals, cargo from freight forwarders, United States Postal Service mail, and live animals. It flies from Oahu to Kona on the Big Island, Lanai City, Molokai, Maui, and Kauai, totalling eight airports in the Hawaiian chain.

In June, Kamaka Air temporarily grounded its aircraft following the departure of its director of flight operations. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that a flight operations director be on staff at all times. During this period, Transair (Hawaii) (RDS, Honolulu) stepped in to maintain flights.