Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) has announced it would suspend all passenger and cargo turboprop services within Hawaii operated by Empire Airlines (EM, Coeur d'Alene Pappy Boyington) under the 'Ohana brand effective November 1, 2020.
The airline explained that its current scope clause provisions forbade it from operating subcontracted 'Ohana services when its mainline services, operated with B717-200 and A321-200N aircraft, drop below a certain level.
"Hawaiian sought to preserve important air service to Kaunakakai and Lanai City. However, low travel demand caused by the pandemic and the state of Hawai'i's quarantine restrictions triggered a labour provision in Hawaiian's pilot contract affecting the carrier’s ability to provide ‘Ohana by Hawaiian service," the carrier said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Empire Airlines operates a total of eight ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprops on behalf of Hawaiian Airlines, comprising four ATR42-500s plying routes from Honolulu to Kaunakakai and Lanai City, and four ATR72-200(F)s operating from the state capital to Hilo, Kahului, Kona, and Lihue.
The carrier underlined that it was committed to restarting 'Ohana passenger and cargo services in the future but admitted it was unlikely to happen "anytime soon".
According to the ch-aviation capacities module, turboprop passenger services are around 5% of Hawaiian Airlines' total intrastate capacity with the bulk of capacity operated with narrowbody jets. However, neither Kaunakakai nor Lanai City is served with B717-200s or A321-200Ns. Both cities remain served by Mokulele Airlines (MHO, Kona) operating under flight numbers of its parent Southern Airways Express (9X, Memphis International).
