STAR-BULLETIN / 2001 Pacific Wings is negotiating to get new aircraft to grow its interisland routes, and is hiring.

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Commuter carrier
expanding

Pacific Wings plans
to start more interisland
flights and is hiring

Maui-based commuter airline Pacific Wings isn't wasting any time picking up where larger competitor Island Air left off.

The smaller carrier plans to immediately move into the Kahului Commuter Terminal space that Island Air is vacating Sunday and will launch new service to Kaunakakai, Molokai, boost the limited Maui service to Lanai that began on May 1 and increase frequency to Hilo and Kona. Pacific Wings also plans to begin West Maui-Honolulu service.

"We hope to launch service in a week or two," Pacific Wings President Greg Kahlstorf said. "We're currently negotiating to acquire two to three additional aircraft and serve new cities with the additional counter space we'll be occupying."

Pacific Wings flies six nine-seat Cessna 208s.

The 70-employee company is expanding its work force by 34 percent to 94 workers. Pacific Wings is hiring 12 first officers, five captains, two mechanics and five customer service positions.

Entry-level wages are $9.50 an hour for customer service positions and $14.50 for mechanics -- although mechanics with certification average around $15.50 to $16 to start, Kahlstorf said. First officers are in the $9 to $10 range. Future wages are adjusted based on performance and the cost of living.

Captains receive about $30,000 to start, with adjustments after the first and second years.

Kahlstorf said Pacific Wings and other small carriers had been pressuring the state to move Island Air to the larger terminal to free room for the smaller carriers. Island Air had increased its number of Maui flights after it was sold last May to San Francisco-based Gavarnie Holding LLC by Aloha Airlines' parent.

"We had only one counter in Kahului and four flights within five minutes of each other whereas Island Air had four or five flights leaving simultaneously and four or five counters to check them in," Kahlstorf said. "How many counters you have determines how you serve your customers ground side. You can have a lot of planes leaving, but if you can't process the passengers, it's a cluster."

Island Air, which operates eight 37-seat de Havilland Dash-8 aircraft, said it is relocating to the main terminal to get a more professional environment and to gain better proximity to airport services.

But Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said Island Air was told late last year that it would have to move because of complaints from the smaller carriers.

"We told them to move because of increased activity and the fact that they require passenger screening as part of their partnership with Hawaiian and Aloha," Ishikawa said. "The commuter carriers were upset with that because many of them don't require passenger screening at the commuter terminal and thought there was a lot of confusion about who gets screened and who doesn't."