Hawaiian carrier Island Air ceasing all operations

Sunday, 10 Nov, 2017 0

Beleaguered Hawaiian carrier Island Air has admitted it has ‘exhausted all options’ and will cease flying on Friday.

The Aloha state’s second largest inter-island carrier has not been able to secure funding to continue operations.

In a written message to employees CEO and President David Uchiyama said: "We will need to work through this day with our heads held high knowing that we did all that we could do to provide an affordable alternative to interisland travel for our islands."

"Your dedication and loyalty to the service/experience that Island Air provided will not be able to be matched."

The airline will officially shutter at midnight.

Island Air operated about 200 inter-island flights a week with a workforce of more than 400.

Island Air lays the blame on ‘aggressive legal attacks’ by aircraft lessors.

"Island Air has taken every measure possible to avoid this tremendous hardship to its passengers," Uchiyama said in a statement.

"The state will be working with Island Air to help the employees apply for unemployment insurance and provide assistance with job searches and training opportunities," said Hawaii gov. David Ige.

below social share icons

TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

Our leadership is bold. Our agility thrives on open innovation and we embrace the new, whether it’s diversity, trends, challenges....

Princess Hotels & Resorts is a hotel chain specialising in holiday and urban hotels located in first class tourist destinations,...

The Polish Tourism Organisation (Polska Organizacja Turystyczna – POT) is one of several dozen national tourism organisations operating in the...

Nium was founded on the mission to build the global payments infrastructure of tomorrow, today. With the onset of the on-demand...

STA was established to support the growth of the travel and tourism sector by serving the needs of tourism companies...

Virtuoso is the leading global network of agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel, with more than 20,000 advisors. We...

From the beginning, ATI’s philosophy has been “innovation, not duplication.“ Developing specialized technology solutions to connect over 30,000 accommodation, attracti...

Babble is a leading technology business that is reimagining how we do work. Founded in 2001, the company works with...

We understand the importance of personal touch We do things a bit differently at Eventsquid. We know that we could...

Blue Diamond Resorts consistently goes above and beyond guest expectations by delivering groundbreaking vacation experiences through our exceptional collection of...

The Mexico Tourism Board serves as the driving force behind Mexico’s global appeal, orchestrating targeted marketing campaigns to showcase the...

Here at Elegant Resorts, luxury travel is in our DNA. True pioneers in the industry, we were the first specialist...

For over 18 years and over 106 completed events, the Travel & Adventure Show has connected over 2.5 million travel...

Jet2.com is the UK’s third largest airline, flying from ten UK airports to more than 60 destinations across Europe and beyond....

Central Florida’s Polk County is conveniently located between Orlando and Tampa, and an easy drive to Central Florida attractions and...

Discover Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach, also known as the Charlotte Harbor Gulf Island Coast. This natural wonderland is nestled in the...

Family-owned Olympic Holidays has been arranging holidays to Greece, the Greek islands and Cyprus for more than half century. The company is unrivalled...