Shuttle America Coming to Hawaii?

Shuttle America ERJ 170, originally uploaded by PILOT25 (BLUE SKYWORKS PHOTOGRAPHY).

Published reports indicate that Shuttle America, a regional carrier and division of Republic Airways, may be flying in the interisland market by the end of this year under the Mokulele Airlines brand name.

Mokulele Airlines is a commuter carrier based in Kona operating Cessna Caravan single engine planes to several rural airports. They also fly under the Go! banner in a code-sharing agreement.

Shuttle America flies regional service for carriers such as United Airlines and Delta on the mainland. They were once known as a low-fare airline.

Air fares in the Hawaii interisland market have shot up since the demise of Aloha Airlines this past March. The current low fare is published by Mesa's Go! airlines at $64 each way. However when you visit the Go! website, there are hardly any $64 flights available. Some flights are $69. Most are higher.

Hawaiian Airlines charges $69 for their lowest priced ticket. Most of their fares range between $89 to higher than $120 each way.

There is a possibility that if this new airline enters the Hawaii market, a new fare war will probably start. Most likely this will not be good for any of the interisland airlines' bottom line.

This will be good for budget minded consumers like myself who have cut back on interisland travel this year. Competition and low fares are good for interisland travelers and residents.

Should this airline enter the market, the aircraft they will oberate is the Embraer ERJ 170 (photo above) which seats 70 passengers. It looks like a smaller version of the Boeing 737 but is larger than Go's CRJ 200 which holds 50 passengers. Hawaiian Airlines flies Boeing 717s inteisland that can carry up to 120 passengers.

Time will tell whether or not this new carrier enters the market.