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A small Kahului-based interisland commuter airline is looking to capitalize on the merger of Hawaiian and Aloha airlines by growing and forming alliances with other regional carriers, but says the state is getting in the way. Commuter airline guns
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truel@starbulletin.comPacific Wings LLC has been talking with airlines and holding companies since before Sept. 11, but interest in the commuter airline rose immediately after Wednesday's announcement of the Hawaiian-Aloha merger, said Greg Kahlstorf, president of Pacific Wings. The names of the carriers are confidential, he said.
When Kahlstorf talks to airlines about forming a Hawaii partnership, he said he always points out the biggest barrier to the deal: state politics.
The state Department of Transportation in September denied the company's request for more hangar space at Kahului airport, saying the firm is too far back on the waiting list. Pacific Wings, which had been running about 50 daily departures statewide, cut flights and may have to do so again. "I would call it misprision," Kahlstorf said.
Pacific Wings could expand its flights today and pick up some of the hundreds of employees expected to be fired when the two other Hawaii airlines become one, Kahlstorf said. "The problem is I have no place to put them. I'm operating out of a 12-by-50 foot trailer and one of the hangers is leaking," he said.
Kahlstorf is doing whatever he can to change the department's mind, including talking to state legislators and the Federal Aviation Administration. State Transportation Director Brian Minaai isn't returning Kahlstorf's phone calls. Minaai could not be reached for comment.
Some of the companies that would like to tap the interisland market are among the top 10 biggest carriers, while others are smaller regional airlines, Kahlstorf said. Given the increasing financial pressures mainland carriers are facing, it's essential to their long-term survival to make a foothold in regional markets.
Kahlstorf said Pacific Wings' strategy is simple, viable and attractive: go after the tourist market, but make a solid connection with the local market. With direct flights to neighbor islands on the rise, an interisland carrier needs a market to fall back on. "It got us through Sept. 11 completely unscathed," he said.
Pacific Wings flies to remote locations including Hana, Maui, and Kalaupapa on Molokai using subsidies from the federal Essential Air Service program. The firm offers the only scheduled air service between some of Hawaii's most distant areas and Honolulu.
Its local passengers need the service, it says.
The firm basically wants to be the alliance partner to the world, flying its small planes under as many different banners as possible. Pacific Wings can work directly with the airlines to make ticketing seamless. The airlines could supply the planes.
His company can move passengers around Hawaii but won't compete with carriers on flights to the mainland. "The last thing you want to do is be financing their competitors' success," Kahlstorf said.
The only other roadblock to partnerships, Kahlstorf said, is himself and his partner Frank Ford. They built the airline, they loving flying and they want to keep control of the operation. They're in no hurry to make a deal.
"We really like the insanity and the pace and all that."